System and method for inferencing of data transformations through pattern decomposition

ABSTRACT

In accordance with various embodiments, described herein is a system (Data Artificial Intelligence system, Data AI system), for use with a data integration or other computing environment, that leverages machine learning (ML, DataFlow Machine Learning, DFML), for use in managing a flow of data (dataflow, DF), and building complex dataflow software applications (dataflow applications, pipelines). In accordance with an embodiment, the system can provide a service to recommend actions and transformations, on an input data, based on patterns identified from the functional decomposition of a data flow for a software application, including determining possible transformations of the data flow in subsequent applications. Data flows can be decomposed into a model describing transformations of data, predicates, and business rules applied to the data, and attributes used in the data flows.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. Patent Application titled“SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INFERENCING OF DATA TRANSFORMATIONS THROUGHPATTERN DECOMPOSITION”, application Ser. No. 15/683,556, filed Aug. 22,2017, and subsequently issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,705,812 on Jul. 7,2020; which claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplications titled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED MAPPING OF DATATYPES BETWEEN CLOUD AND DATABASE SERVICES”, Application No. 62/378,143,filed Aug. 22, 2016; “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMIC, INCREMENTALRECOMMENDATIONS WITHIN REAL-TIME VISUAL SIMULATION”, Application No.62/378,146, filed Aug. 22, 2016; “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INFERENCING OFDATA TRANSFORMATIONS THROUGH PATTERN DECOMPOSITION”, Application No.62/378,147, filed Aug. 22, 2016; “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ONTOLOGYINDUCTION THROUGH STATISTICAL PROFILING AND REFERENCE SCHEMA MATCHING”,Application No. 62/378,150, filed Aug. 22, 2016; “SYSTEM AND METHOD FORMETADATA-DRIVEN EXTERNAL INTERFACE GENERATION OF APPLICATION PROGRAMMINGINTERFACES”, Application No. 62/378,151, filed Aug. 22, 2016; and“SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DYNAMIC LINEAGE TRACKING AND RECONSTRUCTION OFCOMPLEX BUSINESS ENTITIES WITH HIGH-LEVEL POLICIES”, Application No.62/378,152, filed Aug. 22, 2016; each of which above applications areherein incorporated by reference.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to U.S. Patent Applications titled “SYSTEMAND METHOD FOR AUTOMATED MAPPING OF DATA TYPES FOR USE WITH DATAFLOWENVIRONMENTS”, application Ser. No. 15/683,551, filed Aug. 22, 2017, andsubsequently issued as U.S. Pat. No. 11,137,987 on Oct. 5, 2021; “SYSTEMAND METHOD FOR DYNAMIC, INCREMENTAL RECOMMENDATIONS WITHIN REAL-TIMEVISUAL SIMULATION”, application Ser. No. 15/683,554, filed Aug. 22,2017, and subsequently issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,620,923 on Apr. 14,2020; “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ONTOLOGY INDUCTION THROUGH STATISTICALPROFILING AND REFERENCE SCHEMA MATCHING”, application Ser. No.15/683,559, filed Aug. 22, 2017, and subsequently issued as U.S. Pat.No. 10,620,924 on Apr. 14, 2020; “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR METADATA-DRIVENEXTERNAL INTERFACE GENERATION OF APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACES”,application Ser. No. 15/683,563, filed Aug. 22, 2017, and subsequentlyissued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,776,086 on Sep. 15, 2020; and “SYSTEM ANDMETHOD FOR DYNAMIC LINEAGE TRACKING, RECONSTRUCTION, AND LIFECYCLEMANAGEMENT”, application Ser. No. 15/683,567, filed Aug. 22, 2017; eachof which above applications are herein incorporated by reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

FIELD OF INVENTION

Embodiments of the invention are generally related to methods ofintegrating data obtained from various sources, and are particularlyrelated to the inferencing of data transformations through patterndecomposition.

BACKGROUND

Many of today's computing environments require an ability to share largeamounts of data among different types of software applications. However,distributed applications may be markedly different in theirconfigurations due to, for example, differences in their types of datasupported; or their execution environments. An application'sconfiguration may depend, for example, on its application programminginterfaces, runtime environment, deployment scheme, lifecyclemanagement, or security management.

Software design tools intended for use in developing such distributedapplications tend to be resource-intensive, often requiring the servicesof a human domain model expert to curate application and dataintegrations. Consequently, application developers who are faced withthe task of building complex, scalable, distributed applications, thatwill be used to integrate different types of data among different typesof execution environments, must generally expend a substantial amount ofmanual effort to design, build, and configure those applications.

SUMMARY

In accordance with various embodiments, described herein is a system(Data Artificial Intelligence system, Data AI system), for use with adata integration or other computing environment, that leverages machinelearning (ML, DataFlow Machine Learning, DFML), for use in managing aflow of data (dataflow, DF), and building complex dataflow softwareapplications (dataflow applications, pipelines). In accordance with anembodiment, the system can provide a service to recommend actions andtransformations, on an input data, based on patterns identified from thefunctional decomposition of a data flow for a software application,including determining possible transformations of the data flow insubsequent applications. Data flows can be decomposed into a modeldescribing transformations of data, predicates, and business rulesapplied to the data, and attributes used in the data flows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for providing data flow artificialintelligence, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates an event-driven architecture including an eventcoordinator for use with a system, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates the steps in a data flow, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a data flow that includes multiplesources, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example use of a data flow with a pipeline, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example use of an ingest/publish engine andingest/publish service with a pipeline, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates the process of ingest and training from a HUB, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates the process of building models, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates the process of classifying datasets or entities fromnewly added HUBs, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 10 further illustrates the process of classifying datasets orentities, from newly added HUBs, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 11 further illustrates the process of classifying datasets orentities, from newly added HUBs, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates an object diagram for use in functional typeclassification, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a dimension functional typeclassification, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a cube functional type classification,in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example usage of functional type classificationto evaluate a business entity's functional type, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 16 illustrates an object diagram for use in functionaltransformation, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 17 illustrates the operation of a recommendation engine, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 18 illustrates the use of a data lake, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 19 illustrates the use of a data-driven strategy to manage a datalake, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 20 illustrates the use of a process-driven strategy to manage adata lake, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 21 illustrates the use of a pipeline compiler, in accordance withan embodiment.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example pipeline graph, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example of a data pipeline, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 24 illustrates another example of a data pipeline, in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example of an orchestration pipeline, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 26 further illustrates an example of an orchestration pipeline, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 27 illustrates the use of a coordination fabric including amessaging system, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 28 further illustrates the use of a coordination fabric including amessaging system, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 29 illustrates an on-premise agent for use with a system, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 30 illustrates a data flow process, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 31 illustrates an automated mapping of data types, in accordancewith an embodiment.

FIG. 32 illustrates an auto-map service for generation of mappings, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 33 illustrates an example of mapping between a source schema andtarget schema, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 34 illustrates another example of mapping between a source schemaand target schema, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 35 illustrates a process for providing automated mapping of datatypes, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 36 illustrates a system that displays one or more semantic actionsenabled for accessed data, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 37 illustrates a graphical user interface that displays one or moresemantic actions enabled for accessed data, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 38 further illustrates a graphical user interface that displays oneor more semantic actions enabled for accessed data, in accordance withan embodiment.

FIG. 39 illustrates a process for displaying one or more semanticactions enabled for accessed data, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 40 illustrates a means of identifying a pattern of transformationin a data flow, for one or more functional expressions generated foreach of one or more applications, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 41 illustrates an example of identifying a pattern oftransformation in a data flow, for one or more functional expressions,in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 42 illustrates an object diagram for use in identifying a patternof transformation in a data flow, for one or more functional expressionsgenerated for each of one or more applications, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 43 illustrates a process of identifying a pattern of transformationin a data flow, for one or more functional expressions generated foreach of one or more applications, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 44 illustrates a system for generating functional type rules, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 45 further illustrates a system for generating functional typerules, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 46 illustrates an object diagram for use in generating functionaltype rules, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 47 illustrates a process for generating a functional type systembased on generated one or more rules, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 48 illustrates a system for identifying a pattern for use inproviding a recommendation for a data flow, based on informationprovided via a foreign function interface, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 49 further illustrates identifying a pattern for use in providing arecommendation for a data flow, based on information provided via aforeign function interface, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 50 further illustrates identifying a pattern for use in providing arecommendation for a data flow, based on information provided via aforeign function interface, in accordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 51 illustrates a process for identifying a pattern for use inproviding a recommendation for a data flow, based on informationprovided via a foreign function interface, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 52 illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data, forlineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 53 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 54 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 55 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 56 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 57 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 58 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 59 illustrates a process for managing a sampled data or accesseddata, for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance withan embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The foregoing, together with additional embodiments and features thereofwill become apparent upon referring to the following descriptionincluding specification, claims, and accompanying drawings. In thefollowing description, for purposes of explanation, specific details areset forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of variousembodiments of the invention. However, it will be apparent that variousembodiments can be practiced without these specific details. Thefollowing description including specification, claims, and accompanyingdrawings are not intended to be restrictive.

Introduction

In accordance with various embodiments, described herein is a system(Data Artificial Intelligence system, Data AI system), for use with adata integration or other computing environment, that leverages machinelearning (ML, DataFlow Machine Learning, DFML), for use in managing aflow of data (dataflow, DF), and building complex dataflow softwareapplications (dataflow applications, pipelines).

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can provide support forauto-mapping of complex data structures, datasets or entities, betweenone or more sources or targets of data, referred to herein in someembodiments as HUBs. The auto-mapping can be driven by a metadata,schema, and statistical profiling of a dataset; and used to map a sourcedataset or entity associated with an input HUB, to a target dataset orentity or vice versa, to produce an output data prepared in a format ororganization (projection) for use with one or more output HUBs.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can include a softwaredevelopment component and graphical user interface, referred to hereinin some embodiments as a pipeline editor, or Lambda Studio IDE, thatprovides a visual environment for use with the system, includingproviding real-time recommendations for performing semantic actions ondata accessed from an input HUB, based on an understanding of themeaning or semantics associated with the data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can provide a service torecommend actions and transformations, on an input data, based onpatterns identified from the functional decomposition of a data flow fora software application, including determining possible transformationsof the data flow in subsequent applications. Data flows can bedecomposed into a model describing transformations of data, predicates,and business rules applied to the data, and attributes used in the dataflows.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can perform an ontologyanalysis of a schema definition, to determine the types of data, anddatasets or entities, associated with that schema; and generate, orupdate, a model from a reference schema that includes an ontologydefined based on relationships between datasets or entities, and theirattributes. A reference HUB including one or more schemas can be used toanalyze data flows, and further classify or make recommendations suchas, for example, transformations enrichments, filtering, or cross-entitydata fusion of an input data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system provides a programmaticinterface, referred to herein in some embodiments as a foreign functioninterface, by which a user or third-party can define a service,functional and business types, semantic actions, and patterns orpredefined complex data flows based on functional and business types, ina declarative manner, to extend the functionality of the system.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can provide data governancefunctionality such as, for example, provenance (where a particular datacame from), lineage (how the data was acquired/processed), security (whowas responsible for the data), classification (what is the data about),impact (how impactful is the data to a business), retention (how longshould the data live), and validity (whether the data should beexcluded/included for analysis/processing), for each slice of datapertinent to a particular snapshot in time; which can then be used inmaking lifecycle decisions and dataflow recommendations.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can be implemented as aservice, for example as a cloud service provided within a cloud-basedcomputing environment; and can serve as a single point of control forthe design, simulation, deployment, development, operation, and analysisof data for use with software applications; including enabling datainput from one or more sources of data (for example, in an embodiment,an input HUB); providing a graphical user interface that enables a userto specify an application for the data; and, scaling the data dependingon an intended destination, use, or target for the data (for example, inan embodiment, an output HUB).

In accordance with an embodiment, as used herein, the terms “input” and“output” when used with reference to a particular HUB are providedmerely as labels to reflect the apparent flow of data in particular usecases or examples, and are not intended to be restrictive as to the typeor function of the particular HUB.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, an input HUB thatoperates as a source of data can also, at the same or at another time,operate as an output HUB or target to receive the same, or another data,and vice versa.

Additionally, while for purposes of illustration, several of theexamples described herein illustrate the use of an input HUB and anoutput HUB; in accordance with an embodiment, in practicalimplementations, a data integration or other computing environment caninclude a plurality of such HUBs, at least some of which are acting bothas input HUBs and/or output HUBs.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system enables rapid developmentof software applications in large, e.g., cloud-based, computingenvironments, where data models may evolve rapidly, and where featuressuch as, for example, search, recommendations, or suggestions arevaluable business requirements. In such environments, the combination ofartificial intelligence (AI) and semantic search empowers users toaccomplish more with their existing systems. For example, integrationinteractions, such as attribute-level mappings, can be recommended basedon an understanding of metadata, data, and a user's interactions withthe system.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can also be used to suggestcomplex cases, for example interesting dimensional edges, which can beused to analyze information, and which enable users to discover hithertounknown facts within their data.

In some embodiments, the system provides a graphical user interface thatenables the automation of manual tasks (e.g., recommendations orsuggestions), and leverages machine learning and probabilistic knowledgefederation, to provide a useful context for users, and allow fordiscovery and semantics-driven solutions, for example, the creation of adata warehouse, scaling of services, data preparation and enrichment,and design and monitoring of software applications.

In accordance with various embodiments, the system can include orutilize some or all of the following features:

Design-Time System: In accordance with an embodiment, a computationalenvironment that enables the design, creation, monitoring, andmanagement of software applications (for example, a dataflowapplication, pipeline, or Lambda application), including the use of an,e.g., data AI subsystem, that provides machine learning capabilities.

Run-Time System: In accordance with an embodiment, a computationalenvironment that enables the execution of software applications (forexample, a dataflow application, pipeline, or Lambda application), andthat receives input from, and provides recommendations to, a design-timesystem.

Pipeline: In accordance with an embodiment, a declarative means ofdefining a processing pipeline, having a plurality of stages or semanticactions, each of which corresponds to a function such as, for example,one or more of filtering, joining, enriching, transforming, or fusion ofan input data, for preparation as an output data. A dataflow softwareapplication, or dataflow application, representing a data flow in, e.g.,DFML. In accordance with an embodiment, the system supports adeclarative pipeline design that can use a same code base (e.g., with aSpark runtime platform) for both batch (historical) and real time(streaming) data processing; and also supports the building of pipelinesor applications that can operate on real time date streams, for realtime data analytics. Data reprocessing due to pipeline design changescan be handled through rolling upgrades of deployed pipelines. Inaccordance with an embodiment, a pipeline can be provided as a Lambdaapplication that can accommodate the processing of real time data andbatch data within distinct batch and real time layers.

HUB: In accordance with an embodiment, a data source or target (cloud oron-premise) comprising datasets or entities. A data source, that can beintrospected, from which data can be consumed or published to, and whichcomprises datasets or entities, that have attributes, semantics orrelationships with other datasets or entities. Examples of HUBs includestreaming data, telemetric, batch-based, structured or unstructured, orother types of data sources. Data can be received from one HUB,associated with a source dataset or entity, and mapped to a targetdataset or entity at the same or another HUB.

System HUB: In accordance with an embodiment, a system HUB can operateas a knowledge source to store profile information and other metadatathat can be associated with other HUBs, and datasets or entities, inthose HUBs, and can also operate in the manner of a regular HUB as asource or recipient of data to be processed. A central repository in,e.g., DFML where metadata and state of the system is managed.

Dataset (Entity): In accordance with an embodiment, a data structurecomprising attributes (e.g., columns), that can be owned by or otherwiseassociated with one or more HUBs, for example a database table, view,file or API. In accordance with an embodiment, one or more businessentities, for example customer records, that can function as a semanticbusiness type, and are stored as data components, such as, for example,tables, within a HUB. Datasets or entities can have relationships toother datasets or entities; together with attributes, such as, forexample, a column in a table; and a data type, such as, for example,string or integer. In accordance with an embodiment, the system supportsa schema agnostic processing of all types of data (including forexample, structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data) during, forexample, enrichment, preparation, transformation, model training, orscoring operations.

Data AI Subsystem: In accordance with an embodiment, a component of asystem, such as, for example, a Data AI system, responsible formachine-learning and semantic related functions, including one or moreof search, profiling, providing a recommendation engine, or support forauto-mapping. The data AI subsystem can support, through an eventcoordinator, the operations of design-time systems, for example asoftware development component, e.g., Lambda Studio, and can providerecommendations based on the continued processing of data by dataflowapplications (e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications), for example torecommend the modification of an existing, e.g., pipeline, to takebetter advantage of the data being processed. A data AI subsystem cananalyze amounts of input data, and continuously update adomain-knowledge model. During the processing of a dataflow application(e.g., pipeline), each stage of the, e.g., pipeline, can proceed, basedon recommended alternatives or options provided by the data AIsubsystem, the updated domain model, and inputs from users, e.g., toaccept or reject a recommended semantic action.

Event Coordinator: In accordance with an embodiment, an event-drivenarchitecture (EDA) component that operates between the design-time andrun-time systems, to coordinate events related to the design, creation,monitoring, and management of dataflow applications (e.g., pipelines,Lambda applications). For example, the event coordinator can receive apublished notification of data from a HUB (e.g., new data conforming toa known data type), normalize the data from that HUB, and provide thenormalized data to a set of subscribers, for use by, e.g., pipelines, orother downstream consumers. The event coordinator can also receivenotification of state transactions within the system, for use inlogging, or lineage tracking, including the creation of temporal slices;and schema evolution.

Profiling: In accordance with an embodiment, the operation of extractinga sample of data from a HUB, in order to profile the data provided bythat HUB, and the datasets or entities, and attributes within that HUB;together with determining metrics associated with sampling the HUB, andupdating the metadata associated with a HUB to reflect a profile of thedata in that HUB.

Software Development Component (Lambda Studio): In accordance with anembodiment, a design-time system tool that provides a graphical userinterface to enable a user to create, monitor, and manage the lifecycleof a pipeline or Lambda application as a pipeline of semantic actions. Agraphical user interface (UI, GUI) or studio that allows users todesign, e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications.

Semantic Action: In accordance with an embodiment, a data transformationfunction, for example a relational algebraic operation. An action thatcan be performed by dataflow applications (e.g., pipelines, Lambdaapplications) on a dataset or entity within a HUB, for projection ontoanother entity. A semantic action operates as a higher-order functionthat can be used across different models, or HUBs, that can receive adataset input, and produce a dataset output. Semantic actions caninclude mappings, and can be continuously updated by, e.g., the data AIsubsystem, in response to processing data as part of an e.g., pipeline,or Lambda application.

Mapping: In accordance with an embodiment, a recommended mapping of asemantic action between a first (e.g., source) dataset or entity, andanother (e.g., target) dataset or entity, provided by, e.g., the data AIsubsystem, and made accessible through the design-time system, e.g., viathe software development component, Lambda Studio. For example, a dataAI subsystem can provide auto-mapping as a service, wherein theauto-mapping can be driven by a metadata, schema, and statisticalprofiling of a dataset, based on a machine learning analysis of ametadata associated with a HUB or data input, and a profiling of thedata itself.

Pattern: In accordance with an embodiment, a pattern of semantic actionsthat can be performed by a dataflow application (e.g., a pipeline,Lambda application). A template can be used to provide a definition of apattern that can be reused by other applications. A data flowrepresenting a logical flow of data and associated transformationsusually associated with business semantics and processes.

Policies: In accordance with an embodiment, a set of policies thatcontrol how dataflow applications (e.g., pipelines, Lambda applicationsare scheduled, which users or components can access which HUBs andsemantic actions, and how data should be aged, or other considerations.A configuration setting that defines how an, e.g., pipeline, is, forexample, scheduled, executed, or accessed.

Application Design Services: In accordance with an embodiment, providesdata flow, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application specific services such as,for example, validation, compiling, packaging, deployment, to other,e.g., DFML services (e.g., UI, system façade). A design-time systemcomponent that validates the pipeline of an, e.g., pipeline, or Lambdaapplication in the software development component, e.g., Lambda Studio(e.g., its inputs and outputs), persists the pipeline, and controls thedeployment of the pipeline, Lambda application, to the system (e.g., toa Spark cluster) for execution, and thereafter can be used in managingthe lifecycle or state of the application.

Edge Layer: In accordance with an embodiment, a layer that collects andforwards data to the scalable I/O layer, e.g., as a store and forwardlayer. A run-time system component that includes one or more nodes thatcan receive data, e.g., via a gateway that is accessible to theInternet, and that includes security and other features that supportsecured access to the, e.g., Data AI system.

Compute Layer: In accordance with an embodiment, an applicationexecution and data processing layer (e.g., Spark). A run-time systemcomponent operating as a distributed processing component, for example,a Spark cloud service, cluster of compute nodes, collection of virtualmachines, or other components or nodes, for use in the execution of,e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications. In a multitenant environment,nodes within the compute layer can be allocated to tenants for use inexecuting pipelines or Lambda applications by those tenants.

Scalable Input/Output (I/O) Layer: In accordance with an embodiment,provides scalable data persistence and access layer structured as topicsand partitions (e.g., Kafka). A run-time system component providing aqueue or other logical storage that allows data to be moved within thesystem, and shared between the various components of the system, forexample, a Kafka environment. In a multitenant environment, the scalableI/O layer can be shared among multiple tenants.

Data Lake: In accordance with an embodiment, a repository for thepersistence of information from the system HUB, or other components. Arepository of data in, e.g., DFML, usually normalized or processed by,e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications, and consumed by other pipelines,Lambda applications or a publish layer.

Registries: In accordance with an embodiment, one or more repositoriesof information, e.g., for storage of functional and business types, thatare used in the decomposition of, e.g., pipelines, Lambda applicationsinto their functional components.

DataFlow Machine Learning (DFML): In accordance with an embodiment, adata integration, data flow management system that leverages machinelearning (ML) to assist in the building of complex dataflowapplications.

Metadata: In accordance with an embodiment, an underlying definition,description of the datasets or entities, and attributes and theirrelationships. It can also be descriptive data about an artifact in,e.g., DFML.

Data: In accordance with an embodiment, an application data representedby the datasets or entities. They can be batch or stream. For example,customers, orders, or products.

System Façade: In accordance with an embodiment, a unified API Layer toaccess the functional capabilities of an e.g., DFML event-drivenarchitecture.

Data AI subsystem: In accordance with an embodiment, provides artificialintelligence (AI) services including but not limited to, for example,search, auto-map, recommendation, or profiling.

Streaming Entity: In accordance with an embodiment, continuous input ofdata and near real time processing and output requirements, which maysupport an emphasis on velocity of data.

Batch Entity: In accordance with an embodiment, scheduled or on-requestingestion of data, which can be characterized by an emphasis on volume.

Data Slice: In accordance with an embodiment, a partition of datausually marked by time.

Rule: In accordance with an embodiment, represents a directive governingartifacts in, e.g., DFML, for example data rules, relationship rules,metadata rules and complex or hybrid rules.

Recommendation (Data AI): In accordance with an embodiment, a proposedcourse of action usually represented by one or more semantic actions orfine grained directives to assist in the design of, e.g., pipelines,Lambda applications.

Search (Data AI): In accordance with an embodiment, a semantic searchin, e.g., DFML, characterized by the context and the intent of the userto return relevant artifacts.

Auto-map (Data AI): In accordance with an embodiment, a type ofrecommendation that shortlists the candidate source or target datasetsor entities, to be used in a data flow.

Data Profiling (Data AI): In accordance with an embodiment, a collectionof several metrics, for example, min value, max value, inter-quartilerange, or sparsity, that characterize data in an attribute belonging toa dataset or entity.

Action Parameter: In accordance with an embodiment, a reference todatasets on which the semantic actions are performed. For example, theparameters to an equi-join in an, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application.

Foreign Function Interface: In accordance with an embodiment, amechanism to register and invoke services (and semantic actions) as partof the, e.g., DFML Lambda application Framework. It can be used toextend the capabilities or transformation vocabulary in, e.g., DFML.

Service: In accordance with an embodiment, an owning artifact in, e.g.,DFML, of a collection of semantic actions that can be characterized by adata integration stage (for example, preparation, discovery,transformation, or visualization).

Service Registry: In accordance with an embodiment, a repository ofservices, their semantic actions and other instance information.

Data Lifecycle: In accordance with an embodiment, the stages in the useof data within, e.g., DFML, starting from ingestion and ending atpublication.

Metadata Harvesting: In accordance with an embodiment, the collection ofmetadata and sample data for profiling, usually after the registrationof a HUB.

Normalize Pipelines: In accordance with an embodiment, thestandardization of data in a certain format to facilitate consumptionby, e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications.

Monitoring: In accordance with an embodiment, identifying, measuring andevaluating the performance of an, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application.

Ingest: In accordance with an embodiment, the intake of data through theedge layer in, e.g., DFML.

Publish: In accordance with an embodiment, the writing data to a targetend point from, e.g., DFML.

Data AI System

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for providing data flow artificialintelligence, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment, a system,e.g., data AI system 150, can provide one or more services forprocessing and transforming data such as, for example, business data,consumer data, and enterprise data, including the use of machinelearning processing, for use with a variety of computational assets suchas, for example, databases, cloud data warehouses, storage systems, orstorage services.

In accordance with an embodiment, computational assets can becloud-based, enterprise-based, or on-premise or agent-based. Variouselements of the system can be connected by one or more networks 130.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can include one or moreinput HUBs 110 (e.g., sources of data, data sources), and output HUBs180 (e.g., targets of data, data targets).

In accordance with an embodiment, each input HUB, e.g., HUB 111, caninclude a plurality of (source) datasets or entities 192.

In accordance with an embodiment, examples of input HUBs can include adatabase management system (DB, DBMS) 112 (e.g., an on-line transactionprocessing system (OLTP), business intelligence system, or an on-lineanalytical processing system (OLAP)). In such examples, the dataprovided by a source such as, for example, a database management systemcan be structured or semi-structured.

In accordance with an embodiment, other examples of input HUBs caninclude a cloud store/object store 114 (e.g., AWS S3, or another objectstore), which can be a click-stream source or an object bucket withunstructured data; data clouds 116 (e.g., a third-party cloud); astreaming data source 118 (e.g., AWS Kinesis, or another streaming datasource), or other input sources 119.

In accordance with an embodiment, input HUBs can include a data sourceinto which data is received from, e.g., an Oracle Big Data Prep (BDP)service.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can include one or moreoutput HUBs 180 (e.g., output destinations). Each output HUB, e.g., HUB181, can include a plurality of (target) datasets or entities 194.

In accordance with an embodiment, examples of output HUBs can include apublic cloud 182, a data cloud 184 (e.g., AWS and Azure), an on-premisecloud 186, or other output targets 187. Data output provided by thesystem can be produced for dataflow applications (e.g., pipelines,Lambda applications) accessible at an output HUB.

In accordance with an embodiment, examples of public cloud can be, forexample, an Oracle Public Cloud, including services such as, forexample, Big Data Prep Cloud Service, Exadata Cloud Service, Big DataDiscovery Cloud Service, and Business Intelligence Cloud Service.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can be implemented as aunified platform for streaming and on-demand (batch) data processingdelivered as a service (e.g., as a software-as-a-service) to users,providing scalable, multi-tenant data processing for multiple inputHUBs. Data is analyzed in real-time, using machine learning techniquesand visual insights and monitoring provided by a graphical userinterface as part of the service. Data sets can be fused from multipleinput HUBs for output to an output HUB. For example, through dataprocessing services provided by the system, data can be generated for adata warehouse and population in one or more output HUBs.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system provides declarative andprogramming topologies for transformation, enrichment, routing,classification, and blending of data; and can include a design-timesystem 160 and a run-time system 170. Users can create applications,such as, for example, dataflow applications (e.g., pipelines, Lambdaapplications) 190, designed to perform data processing.

In accordance with an embodiment, the design-time system can enableusers to design dataflow applications, define data flows, and definedata for data flow processing. For example, design-time system canprovide a software development component 162 (referred to herein in anembodiment as Lambda Studio) that provides a graphical user interfacefor creation of dataflow applications.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, using the softwaredevelopment component, a user can specify input HUBs and output HUBs forcreating a data flow for an application. The graphical user interfacecan present interfaces for services for data integration, which enablesa user to create, manipulate, and manage data flow for an application,including the ability to monitor and manage a data flow pipelinedynamically, such as, for example, viewing data lineage and performingforensic analysis.

In accordance with an embodiment, the design-time system can alsoinclude application design services 164 for deploying dataflowapplications into run-time system.

In accordance with an embodiment, the design-time system can alsoinclude one or more system HUBs 166 (e.g., a metadata repository) forstoring metadata for processing data flows. The one or more system HUBscan store samples of data, such as, for example, data types includingfunctional and business data types. The information in the system HUBcan be used to perform one or more of the techniques disclosed herein. Adata lake 167 component, can operate as a repository for the persistenceof information from the system HUB.

In accordance with an embodiment, the design-time system can alsoinclude a data artificial intelligence (AI) subsystem 168 to performoperations for data artificial intelligence processing. The operationscan include the use of ML techniques, for example search and retrieval.The data AI subsystem can sample data for generating metadata for thesystem HUB.

In accordance with an embodiment, for each input HUB, the data AIsubsystem can perform schema object analysis, metadata analysis, sampledata, correlation analysis, and classification analysis. The data AIsubsystem can provide rich data to dataflow applications by runningcontinuously on data that is input; and can provide recommendations,insights, and type inductions to, for example, pipelines, Lambdaapplications.

In accordance with an embodiment, the design-time system enables a userto create policies, artifacts and flows that define the functional needsof the use case.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, the design-time systemcan provide a graphical user interface to create a HUB to ingest dataand define the ingest policy which can be time based or as needed by therelated data flows. Upon selecting an input HUB, data can be sampledfrom the input HUB to profile the sources, such as, for example,performing metadata query, obtaining samples, and obtaining user definedinput. The profile can be stored in system HUB. The graphical userinterface enables multiple sources to be joined for defining a dataflowpipeline. This can be done by creating a script or by using the guidededitor by which data can be visualized at each step. The graphical userinterface can provide access to a recommendation service that suggestshow the data could be, e.g., corrected, enriched, or joined.

In accordance with an embodiment, during design time, application designservices can suggest a suitable structure to analyze the resultingcontent. The application design services can use a knowledge service(functional type classification) to suggest measures and relateddimension hierarchies. Once that is completed, the design-time systemcan recommend the data flows needed to take the blended data fromearlier pipelines and populate a dimensional target structure. Based onthe dependency analysis it can also derive and generate theorchestration flow to load/refresh the target schema. Forforward-engineering use cases, the design-time system can also generatea HUB to host a target structure and create the target schema.

In accordance with an embodiment, the run-time system can performprocessing during run-time of a service for data processing.

In accordance with an embodiment, in the run-time, or operation mode,the policy and flow definitions created by the user are applied and/orexecuted. For example, such processing can include invoking ingest,transform, model and publish services, to process data in the pipeline.

In accordance with an embodiment, the run-time system can include anedge layer 172, a scalable input/output (I/O) layer 174, and adistributed processing system or compute layer 176. During run-time(e.g., when data is ingested from one or more input HUBs 110), data canbe received by edge layer for events that cause the data to begenerated.

In accordance with an embodiment, an event coordinator 165 operatesbetween the design-time and run-time systems, to coordinate eventsrelated to the design, creation, monitoring, and management of thedataflow applications (e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications).

In accordance with an embodiment, an edge layer sends the data to thescalable I/O layer for routing the data to distributed processing systemor compute layer.

In accordance with an embodiment, a distributed processing system orcompute layer can implement a pipeline process (on a per-tenant basis)to process data for output. The distributed processing system can beimplemented using, for example, Apache Spark and Alluxio; and can sampledata into a data lake before outputting the data to an output HUB. Thedistributed processing system can communicate with the scalable I/Olayer for activation of data for processing.

In accordance with an embodiment, the data AI system, including some orall of the above components, can be provided at, or executed by, one ormore computers including, for example, one or more processors (CPU),memory, and persistent storage devices (198).

Event-Driven Architecture

As described previously, in accordance with an embodiment, the systemcan include an event-driven architecture (EDA) component or eventcoordinator that operates between the design-time and run-time systems,to coordinate events related to the design, creation, monitoring, andmanagement of dataflow applications (e.g., pipelines, Lambdaapplications).

FIG. 2 illustrates an event-driven architecture including an eventcoordinator for use with a system, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 2 , in accordance with an embodiment, the eventcoordinator can include an event queue 202 (e.g., Kafka), eventbootstrapper service 204 (e.g., ExecutorService), and eventconfiguration publisher/event consumer 206 (e.g., DBCS).

In accordance with an embodiment, events received at a system façade 208(e.g., an Events API Extension) can be communicated by one or more eventbroker(s) 210, e.g., Kafka consumer(s), to various components of thesystem. For example, data and/or events such as, for example, externaldata 212 (e.g., S3, OSCS, or OGG data), or inputs from a graphical userinterface 214 (e.g., a browser, or DFML UI) can be communicated via theevent coordinator, to other components such as, for example, anapplication runtime 216, data lake, system HUB, data AI subsystem,application design services, as described previously; and/or to ingest220, publish 230, scheduling 240, or other components.

In accordance with an embodiment, event brokers can be configured asconsumers of stream events. The event bootstrapper can start a number ofconfigured event brokers to process events on behalf of registeredsubscribers; wherein each event broker delegates the processing of theevent to the registered callback endpoint for processing a given event.The event coordinator enables registering event types; registeringeventing entities; registering events; and registering subscribers.Table 1 provides an example of various event objects, including apublish event, and a subscribe event.

TABLE 1 Publish Event A 2-tuple (event Type, eventing Entity) objectthat registers the publication of an event by an eventing entity.Subscribe Event A 2-tuple (event, eventing Entity) object that registersthe subscription to an event published by another eventing entity(publisher).Event Types

In accordance with an embodiment, event types define a state change ofan event that has significance for the system, such as, for example, thecreation of a HUB, modification of a dataflow application, e.g.,pipeline, Lambda application, ingesting data for a dataset or entity, orpublishing data to a target HUB. An example data format, and examples ofvarious event types are described below and in Table 2:

{ “Id”:“” , // generated at the time of creation “Name”: “Hub -Creation” “Type”:“User Event” }

TABLE 2 POST /eventTypes Creating a new eventType. PUT/eventType/{eventide} Modify an eventType with the given Id. GET/eventTypes Retrieve all eventTypes in the system. GET/eventTypes/{eventTypeId} Retrieve the representation of the eventTypewith the given Id. GET /eventTypes/{eventide}/pub- Retrieve all thepublishers for this lishers eventType. There can be more than oneeventing entity registered to publish events of this type, in which caseall distinct eventing entities publishing event of this type will bereturned. GET /eventTypes/{eventide}/sub- Retrieve all the subscribersfor this scribers eventType. There can be more than one eventing entityregistered as subscribers to events of this type, in which case alldistinct eventing entities subscribing to the event of this type will bereturned. DELETE /eventTypes/{eventide} Delete an event with a given Id.Eventing Entities

In accordance with an embodiment, an eventing entity can be a publisherand/or subscriber of events. For example, an eventing entity canregister to publish one or more events and/or be consumers of one ormore events, including registering an endpoint or callback URL that willbe used for notifying or sending acknowledgement on publish anddelegating processing for subscribed events. Examples of eventingentities can include the metadata service, ingest service, system HUBartifacts, and pipelines, Lambda applications. An example data format,and examples of various eventing entities are described below and inTable 3:

{ “Id”:“” , // generated at the time of creation “Name”: “MetadataService”, “endPointURL”:“localhost:9010/processEvent”,“entityType”:“DFMLService” }

TABLE 3 POST /eventingEntities Creates a new eventing Entity. PUT/eventingEntities/{entityId} Modify an existing eventing Entityidentified by Id. GET /eventingEntities Retrieve all registered eventingEntities. GET /eventingEntities/{entityId} Retrieve the representationof the eventing entity with the given Id. GET /eventingEntities/{enti-Retrieve all events registered for tyId}/eventsPublished publication bythis eventing Entity. GET /eventingEntities/{enti- Retrieve all eventsregistered for tyId}/eventsSubscribed subscription by this eventingEntity. DELETE /eventingEntities/{entityId} Delete this evening entityfrom the system.Events

In accordance with an embodiment, an event is an instance of an eventtype that is associated with an eventing entity registered as apublisher; and can have subscribers (eventing entities). For example, ametadata service can register a HUB creating event for publication; andcan publish one or more of event instances (once each for HUBs created)for this event. Examples of various events are described in Table 4:

TABLE 4 POST /events Creates a new event to be published by an eventingEntity. { ″Id″:″″, ″acknowledgeURL″: ″locahost:9010/eventAcknowledge″,″onProcessingOf″:″/eventType/{eventId} ″,″eventType″:″/eventType/{eventId}″,″eventingEntity″:″/eventingEntity/{entitId} ″ } PUT /events/{eventid}Modifies an existing event registered for publication by an eventingentity. POST /events/{eventid}/publish Publishes an event instanceenqueuing the event for consumption. { ″event_type″: ″data″, ″subtype″:″publication″, ″state″: ″ready″, ″context″:{“eventContextId”:”{eventId}”,”accessTo ken”:””} ″message″: { _actualevent data goes here_(—) } } GET /events Retrieve all events registeredin the system. GET /events/{eventide} Retrieve the event with the givenId. GET /events/{eventide}/publisher Retrieve the publisher of thisevent. GET /events/{eventide}/subscribers Retrieve the subscribers forthis event. POST /events/{eventid}/subscribers Registering a subscriberfor an event. { ″Id″:″″ , // generated at the time of creation″processingURL″: ″locahost:9010/eventProcess″,″subscribingEvent″:″/events/{eventId}″, ″callbackMethod″:″REST″,″subscriberentity″:″/eventingEntity/{entitI d}″ } PUT Modify theproperties of the subscriber/events/{eventid}/subscribers/{subscriberId} for this event. DELETEDelete the subscriber for this event./events/{eventid}/subscribers/{subscriberId} DELETE /events/{eventide}Delete the event.

EXAMPLES

In accordance with an embodiment, the following examples illustratecreating an event type; registering a publish event; registeringsubscribers; publishing an event; getting event types; gettingpublishers for an event type; and getting subscribers for an event type.

POST http://den00tnk:9021/dfml/service/eventType{“name”:“DATA_INGESTED”, “type”:“SystemEvent” }

Which returns a universally unique ID (UUID), for example“8e87039b-a8b7-4512-862c-fdb05b9b8888”. Eventing objects can publish orsubscribe to events in the system. Service endpoints such as, forexample, ingest service, metadata service, and application designservice can be publish and subscribe events with static endpoints foracknowledge, notification, error, or processing. DFML artifacts (e.g.,DFMLEntity, DFMLLambdaApp, DFMLHub) can also be registered as eventingobjects; instances of these types can publish and subscribe to eventswithout registering as eventing objects.

POST http://den00tnk:9021/dfml/service/eventEntity { “name”:“DFMLEntity”, “endPointURL”:“localhost:9010/<publisherURL>”,“notificationEndPointURL”:“http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/notification”,“exceptionEndPointURL”:“http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/exception”,“errorEndPointURL”:“http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/error”,“entityType”:“DFMLEntity” }

The following example registers the DFMLLambdaApps (type) as an eventingObject.

{ “name”: “DFMLLambdaApps”,“endPointURL”:“localhost:9010/<publisherURL>”,“notificationEndPointURL”:“http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/notification”,“exceptionEndPointURL”:“http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/exception”,“errorEndPointURL”:“http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/error”,“entityType”:“DFMLLambdaApps” }

For eventing entities that are of type HUB, Entity and LambdaApp, the<publisherURL> can be annotated in REST endpoint URL's, and theevent-driven architecture will derive the actual URL by replacing theDFML artifact instance URL. For example, if a notificationEndpointURL isregistered as http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/notification and thepublisher URL specified as part of the message ishubs/1234/entities/3456, then the URL invoked for notification will behttp://den00tnk:9021/hubs/1234/entities/3456/notification. The POSTreturns a UUID; for example “185cb819-7599-475b-99a7-65e0bd2ab947”.

Registering a Publish Event

In accordance with an embodiment, a publish event can be registered as:

POST http://den00tnk:9021/dfml/service/event {“acknowledgeURL”:“http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/acknowledge”,“onProcessingOf”:“/eventType/{eventId}”,“eventType”:“7ea92c868e87039b-a8b7-4512-862c-fdb05b9b8888”,“publishingEntity”:“185cb819-7599-475b-99a7-65e0bd2ab947” }

The eventType refers to the UUID returned for registering the event typeDATA_INGESTED and the publishingEntity refers to the DFMLEntity typeregistered as eventing Object. The registration returns a UUID, forexample “2c7a4b6f-73ba-4247-a07a-806ef659def5”.

Registering Subscribers

In accordance with an embodiment, a subscriber can be registered as:

POST http://den00tnk:9021/dfml/service/event/2c7a4b6f-73ba-4247-a07a-806ef659def5/subscribers

The UUID returned from the publish event registration is used in thepath segment for registering a subscriber.

{ “processingURL”:“http://den00tnk:9021/dfml/service/eventType/process3”,“callbackMethod”:“SYNC_POST”,“subscriberEntity”:“7599916b-baab-409c-bfe0-5334f111ef41”,“publisherURL”:“/hubs/1234/entities/3456”,“publishingObjectType”:“DFMLEntity”,“subscribingObjectType”:“DFMLLambdaApps”,“subscriberURL”:“/lambdaApps/123456” }

The publisherURL and publishingObjectType refers to the instance andtype of the publisher object. Here the dataflow (e.g., Lambda)application, in specifying a URI /lambdaApps/123456 is interested insubscribing to the DATA_INGESTED event from the entity/hubs/1234/entities/3456. The registration returns a UUID, for example“1d542da1-e18e-4590-82c0-7fe1c55c5bc8”.

Publishing an Event

In accordance with an embodiment, an event can be published as:

POST http://den00tnk:9021/dfml/service/event/publish {“event_type”:“DATA_AVAILABLE”, “subtype”:“publication”, “state”:“ready”,“eventTypeId”:“2c7a4b6f-73ba-4247-a07a-806ef659def5”,“publisherURL”:“dfml/service/eventType”, “message”: {“id”:“1234”,“descr”:“something happened here testing this and this again” } }

The publisherURL is used if the publishing object is one of DFMLEntity,DFMLHub or DFMLLambdaApps, and is used to check the instance of theeventing object publishing a message for which the subscriber isenlisted. The publisher URL is also used to derive the notification URLwhen a subscriber successfully processes the message. The publicationreturns a message body that was part of the published event.

Getting Event Types

In accordance with an embodiment, event types can be determined as:

GET http://den00tnk:9021/dfml/service/eventType { “eventTypes”: [ {“Id”: “8e87039b-a8b7-4512-862c-fdb05b9b8888”, “name”: “DATA_INGESTED”,“type”: “SystemEvent”, “createdBy”: “ ”, “updatedBy”: “ ”,“description”: “ ”, “typeQualifier”: “ ”, “resourceType”: “ ”, “verb”: “”, “operationType”: “ ”, “status”: “ ”, “annotation”: “ ” }, { “Id”:“7ea92c86-8db5-42d6-992a-2578a6d025ce”, “name”: “DATA_AVAILABLE”,“type”: “SystemEvent”, “createdBy”: “ ”, “updatedBy”: “ ”,“description”: “ ”, “typeQualifier”: “ ”, “resourceType”: “ ”, “verb”: “”, “operationType”: “ ”, “status”: “ ”, “annotation”: “ ” } ] }

Getting Publishers for an Event Type

GET http://den00tnk:9021/dfml/service/eventType/7ea92c86-8db5-42d6-992a-2578a6d025ce/publishers { “eventingObjects”: [ { “Id”:“185cb819-7599-475b-99a7-65e0bd2ab947”, “name”: “DFMLEntity”,“entityType”: “DFMLEntity”, “endPointURL”:“localhost:9010/<publisherURL>”, “notificationEndpointURL”:“http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/notification”,“exceptionEndpointURL”: “http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/exception”,“errorEndpointURL”: “http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/error”,“acknowledgeEndpointURL”: “ ”, “description”: “ ”, “entityQualifier”: “”, “status”: “ ”, “annotation”: “ ” } ] }Getting Subscribers for an Event Type

In accordance with an embodiment, subscribers for an event type can bedetermined as:

GET http://den00tnk:9021/dfml/service/eventType/7ea92c86-8db5-42d6-992a-2578a6d025ce/subscribers { “eventingObjects”: [ { “Id”:“7599916b-baab-409c-bfe0-5334f111ef41”, “name”: “DFMLLambdaApps”,“entityType”: “DFMLLambdaApps”, “endPointURL”:“localhost:9010/<publisherURL>”, “notificationEndpointURL”:“http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/notification”,“exceptionEndpointURL”: “http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/exception”,“errorEndpointURL”: “http://den00tnk:9021/<publisherURL>/error”,“acknowledgeEndpointURL”: “ ”, “description”: “ ”, “entityQualifier”: “”, “status”: “ ”, “annotation”: “ ” } ] }

The illustrations described above are provided by way of example, toillustrate a particular embodiment of an event coordinator, event types,eventing entities, and events. In accordance with other embodiments,other types of EDAs can be used to provide communication within thesystem operating between the design-time and run-time systems, tocoordinate events related to the design, creation, monitoring, andmanagement of dataflow applications, and other types of event types,eventing entities, and events can be supported.

DataFlow Machine Learning (DFML) Flow

As described previously, in accordance with various embodiments, thesystem can be used with a data integration or other computingenvironment, that leverages machine learning (ML, DataFlow MachineLearning, DFML), for use in managing a flow of data (dataflow, DF), andbuilding complex dataflow software applications (e.g., dataflowapplications, pipelines, Lambda applications).

FIG. 3 illustrates the steps in a data flow, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 3 , in accordance with an embodiment, theprocessing of a DFML data flow 260 can include a plurality of steps,including an ingest step 262, during which data is ingested from varioussources, for example, Salesforce (SFDC), S3, or DBaaS.

During a data preparation step 264, the ingested data can be prepared,for example by being de-duplicated, standardized, or enriched.

During a transform step 266, the system can perform one or more merges,filters, or lookups at datasets, to transform the data.

During a model step 268, one or more models are generated, together withmappings to the models.

During a publish step 270, the system can publish models, specifypolicies and schedules, and populate target data structures.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system supports the use of asearch/recommend functionality 272 throughout each of its datapreparation, transform, and model steps. A user can interact with thesystem through a set of well-defined services that encapsulates thebreadth of functional capabilities in data integration frameworks. Thisset of services define a logical view of the system. For example, in adesign mode, the user can create policies, artifacts, and flows thatdefine the functional needs of a particular use case.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a data flow that includes multiplesources, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in the example data flow 280 shown in FIG. 4 , inaccordance with an embodiment, the requirement is to take content from aplurality of sources 282, here indicated as SFDC, and FACS (Fusion AppsCloud Service), together with some files in OSCS (Oracle Storage CloudService); blend that information together in a manner that can be usedto analyze the desired content; derive a target cube and dimensions; mapthe blended content to the target structures; and make this contentavailable along with the dimensional model to an Oracle BusinessIntelligence Cloud Service (BICS) environment; including the use ofingest, transform 266A/266B, model, orchestrate 292, and deploy 294steps.

The illustrated example is provided to illustrate the techniquesdescribed herein; the functionality described herein is not limited touse with these particular data sources.

In accordance with an embodiment, during the ingest step, in order toaccess and ingest the SFDC content, a HUB is created in the data lake toreceive this content. This can be performed, for example, by selectingan SFDC adapter for the relevant access mode (JDBC, REST, SOAP),creating the HUB, providing a name, and defining an ingest policy whichcould be time based or as needed by the related data flows.

In accordance with an embodiment, a similar process can be performed forthe other two sources, the difference being that for the OSCS source,the schema may not be known at the outset, so that can instead beobtained by some means (for example, metadata query, sampling, or userdefined).

In accordance with an embodiment, the sources of data can optionally beprofiled to investigate the sources further, which may help in derivingrecommendations later in the integration flow.

In accordance with an embodiment, the next step is to define how theseparate sources can be joined together around a central item, which istypically the basis (fact) for the analysis, and which can beaccomplished by defining a dataflow pipeline. This can be done directlyby creating a pipeline domain-specific language (DSL) script, or byusing the guided editor where the user can see the effect on the data ateach step and can take advantage of the recommendation service thatsuggests how the data could be, e.g., corrected, enriched, joined.

At this point, the user can request that the system suggest a suitablestructure to analyze the resulting content. For example, in accordancewith an embodiment, the system can use the knowledge service (functionaltype classification) to suggest measures and related dimensionhierarchies. Once that is completed, the system can recommend the dataflows needed to take the blended data from the earlier pipeline andpopulate the dimensional target structure. Based on the dependencyanalysis it will also derive and generate the orchestration flow toload/refresh the target schema.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can now generate a HUB tohost the target structure and associate it via an adapter to a DBCSgenerating the data definition language (DDL) needed to create thetarget schema and, for example, deploy the XDML or whatever form BICScan use to generate the models needed to access the newly createdschema. This can be populated by executing the orchestration flow andtriggering the exhaust service.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example use of a data flow with a pipeline, inaccordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 5 , in accordance with an embodiment, the systemallows users to define pipelines 302 representative of a data flow, inthis example including pipeline steps S1 through S5, to describe theprocessing of data when built/executed 304 as applications.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, users can invoke ingest,transform, model and publish services, or other services such as, forexample, policy 306, execution 310, or persistence services 312, toprocess data in the pipeline. Users can also define solutions (i.e., acontrol flow) to specify a unified flow which can integrate relatedpipelines together. Typically, solutions model a complete use case, forexample the loading of a sales cube and associated dimensions.

Data AI System Components

In accordance with an embodiment, adapters enable connection to, andingest data from, various end points and are specific to application orsource type.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can include a predefinedset of adapters, some of which can leverage other SOA adapters, andallow additional adapters to be registered to the framework. There canbe more than one adapter for a given connection type; in which cases,the ingest engine will choose the adapter most suited based on theconnection type configuration of the HUB.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example use of an ingest/publish engine andingest/publish service with a pipeline, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 6 , in accordance with an embodiment, aningest/publish engine 330 can be accessed via an ingest/publish service332 by a pipeline 334, which in this example is designed to ingest data336 (e.g., sales data) from an input HUB (e.g., SFDC HUB1), transformthe ingested data 338, and publish the data to an output HUB 340 (e.g.,Oracle HUB).

In accordance with an embodiment, the ingest/publish engine supports aplurality of connection types 331, each of which connection type 342 isassociated with one or more adapter(s) 344 that provides access to aHUB.

For example, as illustrated in the example of FIG. 6 , in accordancewith an embodiment, an SFDC connection type 352 can be associated withan SFDC-Adp1 adapter 354, and an SFDC-Adp2 adapter 356, that provideaccess to SFDC HUBs 358, 359; while an ExDaaS connection type 362 can beassociated with an ExDaaS-Adp adapter 364 that provides access to anExDaas HUB 366; and an Oracle Connection type 372 can be associated withan Oracle Adp adapter 374 that provides access to an Oracle HUB 376.

Recommendation Engine

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can include arecommendation engine or knowledge service that operates as an expertfiltering system that predicts/suggests the most relevant from among theseveral possible actions that can be performed on the data.

In accordance with an embodiment, recommendations can be chained tofacilitate the user to step through them, to achieve the prescribed endgoal. For example, the recommendation engine can guide the user througha set of steps in transforming a data set into a data cube to bepublished to the target BI system.

In accordance with an embodiment, the recommendation engine utilizesthree aspects: (A) business type classification, (B) functional typeclassification, and (C) a knowledge base. Ontology management andQuery/Search functionality on datasets or entities can be provided by,for example, a YAGO3-seeded federated ontology with Query API, MRS andAudit Repository. Business entity classification can be provided by, forexample, a ML pipeline based classification to identify the businesstype. Functional type classification can be provided by, for example,deductive and rule-based functional type classification. Actionrecommendation can be provided by, for example, inductive and rule-baseddata prep, transform, model, dependencies and related recommendations.

Classification Service

In accordance with an embodiment, the system provides a classificationservice, which can be categorized into business type classification andfunctional type classification, each of which are further describedbelow.

Business Type Classification

In accordance with an embodiment, the business type of an entity is itsphenotype. The observable characteristics of the individual attributesin the entity are as important as the definition, in identifying thebusiness type of an entity. While the classification algorithm uses theschematic definition of a dataset or entity, it can also utilize themodels built using data, to classify the datasets or entities businesstype.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, a dataset ingested from aHUB can be classified as one of existing business types (seeded from themain HUB) that are known to the system, or can be added as a new type ifit cannot be classified into an existing one.

In accordance with an embodiment, business type classification isutilized in making recommendations, either based on inductive reasoning(from transforms defined on similar business type in pipelines), orsimple propositions derived from the classification root entity.

Generally described, in accordance with an embodiment, the following setof steps describes the classification process: ingest and seeding from amain (training) hub; building models and compute col stats and registerthem for use in classification; classifying datasets or entities, fromnewly added hubs, including creating a profile/compute col stats; andclassifying datasets or entities, to provide a short list of entitymodels to use based on structure and col stats; and classifying datasetsor entities, including multiclass classification to compute/predictusing the models.

FIG. 7 illustrates the process of ingest and training from a HUB, inaccordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 7 , in accordance with an embodiment, the datafrom a HUB 382 (e.g., in this example, a RelatedIQ source) can be readby the recommendation engine 380, as datasets 390 (e.g., as ResilientDistributed Datasets, RDDs), including in this example an accountsdataset 391, events dataset 392, contacts dataset 393, lists dataset394, users dataset 395.

In accordance with an embodiment, a plurality of type classificationtools 400 can be used with an ML pipeline 402, for example GraphX 404,Wolfram/Yago 406, and/or MLlib Statistics 408, are used in seeding theknowledge graph 440 with entity metadata (training or seeding data) whena HUB is first registered.

In accordance with an embodiment, the dataset or entity metadata anddata are ingested from the source HUB and stored in the data lake.During model generation 410, the entity metadata (attributes andrelationship with other entities) is used, for example through FP-growthlogistics regression 412, in generating the models 420 and knowledgegraph representing all the datasets or entities, in this examplerepresenting events 422, accounts 424, contacts 426, and users 428. Aspart of the seeding, regression models are built using dataset or entitydata and attribute statistics (min value, max value, mean, orprobability density) are computed.

FIG. 8 illustrates the process of building models, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 8 , in accordance with an embodiment, when runin, for example, a Spark environment 430, Spark MLlib statistics can beused to compute column stats that are added as attribute properties inthe knowledge graph. The computed column stats, along with other datasetor entity metadata, can be used to shortlist the entities whoseregression models will be used in testing the new entities forclassification.

FIG. 9 illustrates the process of classifying datasets or entities, fromnewly added HUBs, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 9 , in accordance with an embodiment, when a newHUB is added, in this example, an Oracle HUB 442, the datasets orentities provided by that HUB, e.g., party information 444, and customerinformation 446, are classified by the model as a party 448 based on thetraining or seeded data created previously.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, the column statistics arecomputed from the data of the new datasets or entities, and a set ofpredicates representing the entity's sub graph is created using thisinformation along with other metadata available as part of the ingest.

In accordance with an embodiment, the column statistics computation isuseful in maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) methods, while sub graphsas well as in regression models for the dataset. The set of graphpredicates generated for the new entity will be used to short listcandidate entity models for testing and classifying the new entity.

FIG. 10 further illustrates the process of classifying datasets orentities, from newly added HUBs, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 10 , in accordance with an embodiment, predicatesrepresenting a sub graph of new datasets or entities, to be classified,are compared 450 with similar sub graphs representing datasets orentities that are already part of the knowledge graph. A ranking of thematching entities, based on the probability of a match, is used inshort-listing the entity models used in testing for classifying newentities.

FIG. 11 further illustrates the process of classifying datasets orentities, from newly added HUBs, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 11 , in accordance with an embodiment, theregression models of the short listed matching datasets or entities areused in testing the data from the new datasets or entities. The MLpipeline can be extended to include additional classificationmethods/models to improve the accuracy of the process. Theclassification service will classify 452 the new entity if there existsa match within the acceptable threshold, for example, in thisillustration, a probability greater than 0.8. If not, the dataset orentity can be added to the knowledge graph as a new business type. Auser can also validate the classification, by accepting or rejecting theresult.

Functional Type Classification

In accordance with an embodiment, the functional type of an entity isits genotype. The functional type can also be described as the interfacethrough which transform actions are defined. For example, a jointransform or filter is defined on a functional type, such as arelational entity in this case. In summary, all transforms are definedin terms of functional types as parameters.

FIG. 12 illustrates an object diagram for use in functional typeclassification, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 12 by way of object diagram 460, in accordancewith an embodiment, the system can describe the general case (in thisexample, dimension, level, or cube) through a set of rules against whicha dataset or entity is evaluated to identify its functional type.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, a multidimensional cubecan be described in terms of its measure attributes and dimensionality,each of which can themselves be defined in terms of their types andother characteristics. The rules engine will evaluate a business typeentity and annotate its functional type based on the evaluation.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a dimension functional typeclassification, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in the example functional type classification 470hierarchy shown in FIG. 13 , in accordance with an embodiment, a levelcan be defined, for example in terms of its dimensions, and levelattributes.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example of a cube functional type classification,in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in the example functional type classification 480hierarchy shown in FIG. 14 , in accordance with an embodiment, a cubecan be defined, for example, in terms of its measure attributes anddimensionality.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example usage of functional type classificationto evaluate a business entity's functional type, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 15 , in this example 490, in accordance with anembodiment, a sales dataset should be evaluated as a cube functionaltype by the rules engine. Similarly the product, customer, and timeshould be evaluated as dimensions and levels (for example by age group,gender).

In accordance with an embodiment, the rules that identify the entity'sfunctional types and the dataset or entity elements for this particularexample are provided below, including several rules that can bespecified to evaluate the same functional type. For example, a column oftype “Date” can be considered a dimension regardless of whether there isa reference to a parent level entity. Similarly zip code, gender and agemay only require data rules to identify them as dimensions:

Customer

-   -   Id, Name→(Dimension isComposedOf DimensionAttrib)    -   AgeGroup, Gender→(Dimension isComposedOf IdAttrib, IdAttrib        references Level)

Time

-   -   Day→(Dimension/Level isComposedOf DimensionAttrib/LevelAttrib)    -   Month→(Dimension isComposedOf IdAttrib, IdAttrib references        Level)

Sales

-   -   Qty, Price, Amount→(Cube isComposedOf CubeAttr and Data rule on        this columns, for example numeric min/max values, probability        density)    -   Custid→(DimAttr references Dimension, Cube isComposedOf        CubeAttr)    -   Date→(references Dimension, Cube isComposedOf CubeAttr)

FIG. 16 illustrates an object diagram for use in functionaltransformation, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 15 , in accordance with this example 500, inaccordance with an embodiment, transform functions can be defined onfunctional types. Business entities (business types) are annotated as afunctional type; including by default that complex business types are offunctional type “entity”.

FIG. 17 illustrates the operation of a recommendation engine, inaccordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 17 , in accordance with an embodiment, therecommendation engine generates recommendations which are a set ofactions defined on a business type. Each action is a directive to applya transform on a dataset(s).

In accordance with an embodiment, a recommendation context 530 abstractsthe sources of the recommendation, and contains metadata to identify theset of propositions that generated the recommendation. The contextallows the recommendation engine to learn and prioritize recommendationsbased on user's response.

In accordance with an embodiment, a target entity deducer/mapper 512uses the definition of the target (and classification service thatannotates dataset or entity and attribute business types) to maketransform recommendations that facilitate the current dataset to mapinto the target. This is common when the user starts with a known targetobject (say sales cube) and builds a pipeline to instantiate the cube.

In accordance with an embodiment, templates (pipeline/solution) 514define a reusable set of pipeline steps and transforms to achieve adesired end result. For example, a template might contain steps toenrich, transform, and publish to a data mart. The set ofrecommendations in this case will reflect the template design.

In accordance with an embodiment, a classification service 516identifies the business type of a dataset or entity ingested from a HUBinto the data lake. Recommendations on the entity can be made based ontransforms applied on similar entities (business type) or in conjunctionwith the target entity deducer/mapper.

In accordance with an embodiment, a functional type service 518annotates the functional type(s) that a dataset or entity can assumebased on rules defined. For example, to generate a cube from a givendataset or join it with dimensional tables, it is important to evaluateif the dataset meets the rules that define the cube functional type.

In accordance with an embodiment, a pattern inference from pipelinescomponent 520 allows the recommendation engine to summarize transformsperformed on a given business type in existing pipeline definitions insimilar contexts and suggest similar transform as recommendation in thecurrent context.

In accordance with an embodiment, the recommendation context can be usedto process a recommendation 532, including actions 534, transformfunction 535, action parameters 536, function parameters 537, andbusiness type 538.

Data Lake/Data Management Strategies

As described previously, in accordance with an embodiment, a data lakeprovides a repository for the persistence of information from the systemHUB, or other components.

FIG. 18 illustrates the use of a data lake, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 18 , in accordance with an embodiment, a datalake can be associated with one or more data access APIs 540, a cache542, and persistence store 544, that operate together to receiveingested data that has been normalized, for use with a plurality ofpipelines 552, 554, 556.

In accordance with an embodiment, a variety of different data managementstrategies can be used to manage data (performance, scalability) and itslife cycle in the data lake, which can be broadly classified asdata-driven or process-driven.

FIG. 19 illustrates the use of a data-driven strategy to manage a datalake, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 19 , in accordance with an embodiment, in adata-driven approach, the unit of management is derived based on the HUBor data server definitions. For example, in this approach the data froman Oracle 1 HUB can be stored in a first data center 560 associated withthat HUB, while the data from SFHUB1 can be stored in a second datacenter 562 associated with that HUB.

FIG. 20 illustrates the use of a process-driven strategy to manage adata lake, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 20 , in accordance with an embodiment, in aprocess-driven approach, the unit of management is derived based on therelated pipelines accessing the data. For example, in this approach thedata associated with a Sales pipeline can be stored in a first datacenter 564 associated with that pipeline, while the data from otherpipelines (e.g., pipelines 1, 2, 3) can be stored in a second datacenter 566 associated with those other pipelines.

Pipelines

In accordance with an embodiment, a pipeline defines the transformationor processing that is to be performed on the ingested data. Theprocessed data can be stored in the data lake or can be published toanother end point, such as, for example, DBCS.

FIG. 21 illustrates the use of a pipeline compiler, in accordance withan embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 21 , in accordance with an embodiment, a pipelinecompiler 582 operates between design 570 and execution 580 environments,including accepting one or more pipeline metadata 572, and a DSL, e.g.,Java DSL 574, JSON DSL 576, Scala DSL 578, and providing an output foruse with the execution environment e.g., as a Spark application 584and/or SQL statements 586.

FIG. 22 illustrates an example pipeline graph, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 22 , in accordance with an embodiment, a pipeline588 comprises a list of pipeline steps. Different types of pipelinesteps represent different kinds of operations that can be performed inthe pipeline. Each pipeline step can have a number of input data setsand a number of output data sets, generally described by pipeline stepparameters. The processing order of operations in the pipeline isdefined by binding the output pipeline step parameters from a precedingpipeline step to a subsequent pipeline step. In this manner, pipelinesteps and the relationships between pipeline step parameters form adirected acyclic graph (DAG).

In accordance with an embodiment, a pipeline can be reused in anotherpipeline, if the pipeline contains one or more special pipeline steps(signature pipelines) that represent the input and output pipeline stepparameters of the pipeline. The enclosing pipeline refers to thepipeline to be reused through a (pipeline usage) pipeline step.

FIG. 23 illustrates an example of a data pipeline, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrated in the example data pipeline 600 shown in FIG. 23 , inaccordance with an embodiment, data pipelines perform datatransformations. The data flow in the pipeline is represented as abinding of pipeline step parameters. Various types of pipeline steps aresupported for different transformation operations, including, forexample: Entity (retrieve data from data lake or publish processed datato data lake/other HUBs); and Join (fusion of multiple sources).

FIG. 24 illustrates another example of a data pipeline, in accordancewith an embodiment.

As illustrated in the example data pipeline 610 shown in FIG. 24 , inaccordance with an embodiment, a data pipeline P1 can be reused inanother data pipeline P2.

FIG. 25 illustrates an example of an orchestration pipeline, inaccordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in the example orchestration pipeline 620 shown in FIG.25 , in accordance with an embodiment, using an orchestration pipeline,pipeline steps can be used to represent the task or job that needs to beexecuted in an overall orchestration flow. All of the pipeline steps inan orchestration pipeline are assumed to have one input pipeline stepparameter and one output pipeline step parameter. The executiondependency between tasks can be expressed as the binding betweenpipeline step parameters.

In accordance with an embodiment, parallel execution of tasks can bescheduled if the pipeline steps are dependent on the same precedingpipeline step without conditions (i.e. a fork). If a pipeline step isdependent on multiple preceding paths, then the pipeline step will waitfor all the multiple paths to be completed before its own execution(i.e., a join). However, this does not always imply the tasks areexecuted in parallel. The orchestration engine can decide whether toexecute the tasks in serial or in parallel depending on availableresources

In the example illustrated in FIG. 25 , in accordance with anembodiment, a pipeline step 1 is first executed. If a pipeline step 2and a pipeline step 3 are executed in parallel, then a pipeline step 4will be executed only when pipeline step 2 and pipeline step 3 are bothfinished. The orchestration engine can also execute this orchestrationpipeline serially as (pipeline step 1, pipeline step 2, pipeline step 3,pipeline step 4), or (pipeline step 1, pipeline step 3, pipeline step 2,pipeline step 4), as long as it satisfies the dependency betweenpipeline steps.

FIG. 26 further illustrates an example of an orchestration pipeline, inaccordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in the example pipeline 625 shown in FIG. 26 , inaccordance with an embodiment, each pipeline step can return a status630, such as, for example, a success or error status depending on itsown semantics. The dependency between two pipeline steps can beconditional, based on the return status of the pipeline step. In theexample shown, pipeline step 1 is first executed; if it completessuccessfully, then pipeline step 2 will be executed, otherwise pipelinestep 3 will be executed. After either pipeline step 2 or pipeline step 3is executed, then pipeline step 4 will be executed.

In accordance with an embodiment, orchestration pipelines can be nested,so that one orchestration pipeline can refer to another orchestrationpipeline through a pipeline usage. An orchestration pipeline can alsorefer to a data pipeline as a pipeline usage. The difference between anorchestration pipeline and a data pipeline is that orchestrationpipeline refers to a data pipeline that does not contain signaturepipeline steps, while a data pipeline can reuse another data pipelinethat contains signature pipeline steps.

In accordance with an embodiment, depending on the types of pipelinesteps and code optimization, a data pipeline can be generated as asingle Spark application for execution in a Spark cluster, as multipleSQL statements for execution in DBCS, or as a mixture of SQL and Sparkcode. For an orchestration pipeline, it can be generated for executionin the underlying execution engine, or in a workflow schedule componentsuch as, e.g., Oozie.

Coordination Fabric

In accordance with an embodiment, a coordination fabric or fabriccontroller provides the necessary tools to deploy and manage frameworkcomponents (service provider) and applications (user designed), managesapplication execution and resource requirements/allocation, and providesa integration framework (messaging bus) to facilitate communicationbetween the various components.

FIG. 27 illustrates the use of a coordination fabric including amessaging system, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 27 , in accordance with an embodiment, amessaging system (e.g., Kafka) 650 coordinated interactions between aresource manager 660 (e.g., Yarn/Mesos), scheduler 662 (e.g., Chronos),application schedulers 664 (e.g., Spark), and a plurality of nodes, hereindicated as nodes 652, 654, 656, 658.

In accordance with an embodiment, the resource manager is used to managethe life cycle of data computation tasks/applications includingscheduling, monitoring, application execution, resource arbitration andallocation, load balancing; including managing the deployment andconfiguration of components (that are producers and consumers ofmessages) in a message-driven component integration framework; upgradeof components (services) without downtime; and upgrade of infrastructurewith minimal or no disruption of service.

FIG. 28 further illustrates the use of a coordination fabric including amessaging system, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 28 , in accordance with an embodiment, thedependencies across components in the coordination fabric areillustrated through a simple data-driven pipeline execution use case,where (c) indicates a consumer, and (p) indicates a producer.

In accordance with the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 28 , a scheduler(p) starts the process (1) by initiating ingest of data to a HUB. Aningest engine (c) processes the request (2) ingesting data from the HUBinto the data lake. After the ingest process is completed, the ingestengine (p) communicates (3) the completion status to initiate pipelineprocessing. If the scheduler supports data-driven execution, it canautomatically initiate (3 a) the pipeline process to execute. Thepipeline engine (c) computes (4) the pipelines that are waiting on thedata for execution. The pipeline engine (p) communicates (5) the list ofpipeline applications to schedule for execution. The scheduler gets theexecution schedule request (6) for the pipelines; and initiatesexecution (6 a) of the pipelines. The application scheduler (e.g.,Spark) arbitrates (7) with the resource manager for resource allocationto execute the pipelines. The application scheduler sends the pipeline(8), for execution to the executor in the allocated nodes.

On-Premise Agent

In accordance with an embodiment, an on-premise agent facilitates accessto local data and in a limited fashion, distributed pipeline execution.The on-premise agent is provisioned and configured to communicate with,e.g., a Cloud DI service, to process data access and remote pipelineexecution requests.

FIG. 29 illustrates an on-premise agent for use with a system, inaccordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 29 , in accordance with an embodiment, a cloudagent adapter 682 provisions (1) the on-premise agent 680 and configuresthe agent adapter end point for communication.

An ingest service initiates (2) the local data access request for HUB1through the messaging system. a cloud agent adapter operates as anintermediary (3) between on-premise agent and the messaging system byproviding access to requests initiated through the ingest service aswell as writing data from on-premise agent into the data lake andnotifying the completion of the task through messaging system.

A premise agent polls (4) the cloud agent adapter for data accessrequests to process or upload data into the cloud. The cloud agentadapter writes data (5) into the data lake and notifies pipelinesthrough the messaging system.

DFML Flow Process

FIG. 30 illustrates a data flow process, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrate in FIG. 30 , in accordance with an embodiment, during aningest step 692, data is ingested from various sources, for example,SFDC, S3, or DBaaS.

During a data prep step 693, the ingested data is prepared for exampleby being de-duplicated, standardized, or enriched.

During a transform step 694, the system performs merges, filters, orlookups at datasets, to transform the data.

During a model step 695, one or more models are generated, together withmappings to the models.

During a publish step 696, the system can publish models, specifypolicies and schedules, and populate target data structures.

Metadata and Data-Driven Auto-Mapping

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can provide support forauto-mapping of complex data structures, datasets or entities, betweenone or more sources or targets of data (referred to herein in someembodiments as HUBs). The auto-mapping can be driven by a metadata,schema, and statistical profiling of a dataset; and used to map a sourcedataset or entity associated with an input HUB, to a target dataset orentity, or vice versa, to produce an output data prepared in a format ororganization (projection) for use with one or more output HUBs.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, for a user implementing(e.g., building) a dataflow, pipeline, or Lambda application, the usermay desire to choose data to be mapped from a source or input dataset orentity, within an input HUB, to a target or output dataset or entity,within an output HUB.

In accordance with an embodiment, since generating a map of data from aninput HUB to an output HUB for very large set of HUBs and dataset orentities by hand can be an extremely time consuming and inefficienttask, auto-mapping can enable a user to focus on simplification of adataflow application, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application, by providing auser with recommendations for mapping data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the data AI subsystem can receive anauto-map request for an auto-map service via a graphical user interface(e.g., a Lambda Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE)).

In accordance with an embodiment, the request can include a filespecified for an application for which the auto-map service is to beperformed, together with information identifying an input HUB, a datasetor entity, and one or more attributes. The application file can includeinformation about data for the application. The data AI subsystem canprocess the application file to extract entity name and other shapecharacteristics of the entity including attribute names and data type,which the auto-map service can use in searching to find a potentialcandidate set for mapping.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can access data fortransformation into a HUB, such as, for example, a data warehouse. Theaccessed data can include various types of data includingsemi-structured and structured data. The data AI subsystem can perform ametadata analysis on the accessed data, including determining one ormore shapes, features, or structure of the data. For example, themetadata analysis can determine the types of the data (e.g., businesstypes and functional types), and a columnar shape of the data.

In accordance with an embodiment, based on the metadata analysis of thedata, one or more samples of data can be identified, and a machinelearning process applied to the sampled data, to determine a category ofdata in the accessed data, and update a model. The category of data, forexample, may indicate the relevant portions of the data, such as a facttable in the data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the machine learning can beimplemented using, for example, a logistic regression model, or othertype of machine learning model that can be implemented for machinelearning. In accordance with an embodiment, the data AI subsystem cananalyze a relationship of one or more data items in the data, based onthe category of data, the relationship indicating one or more fields inthe data for the category of data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the data AI subsystem can perform aprocess for feature extraction, including determining one or moremetadata, data type, and statistical profiles of randomly sampled datafor attributes of the accessed data.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, the data AI subsystem cangenerate a profile of the accessed data based on its category of data.The profile can be generated for transformation of the data into anoutput HUB, and, for example, displayed in a graphical user interface.

In accordance with an embodiment, as a result of creating such profiles,the model can support a recommendation, with a degree of confidence, forhow a candidate dataset or entity is similar to an input dataset orentity. The recommendations can be filtered and sorted and then providedto the user via the graphical user interface.

In accordance with an embodiment, an auto-map service can dynamicallysuggest recommendations based on a stage in which a user is building adataflow application, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application.

An example of a recommendation at an entity level may include, inaccordance with an embodiment, a recommendation for an attribute, forexample a column of the entity to be automatically mapped to anotherattribute, or another entity. The service can continuously providerecommendations and guide the user based on user's previous activities.

In accordance with an embodiment, the recommendations can be mappedfrom, e.g., a source dataset or entity associated with an input HUB, toa target dataset or entity associated with an output HUB, using anapplication programming interface (API) (e.g., a REST API) provided bythe auto-map service. The recommendation can indicate a projection ofdata, such as, for example, an attribute, a data type, and anexpression, wherein the expression can be a mapping of the attribute forthe data type.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can provide a graphicaluser interface to select an output HUB for transformation of theaccessed data based on the recommendation. For example, the graphicaluser interface can enable a user to select a recommendation fortransformation of data to an output HUB.

Auto-Mapping

In accordance with an embodiment, the auto-mapping functionality can bedefined mathematically, in which an entity set E is defined as:E={e ₁ ,e ₂ , . . . ,e _(n) |∀e _(i) ∈S}Shape:S={MetaData×DataType×StatisticalProfile}

Where the shape set S includes metadata, data type and statisticalprofiling dimensions. The goal is to find j such that the probability ofsimilarity between e_(i) and e_(j) is the highest.e _(j) ⁺=arg_(j) max p{Sim(e _(i) ,e _(j))|entity=e _(i)}

At dataset or entity level, the problem is a binary problem, i.e.,whether the dataset or entity is similar or dissimilar. Let f_(s),f_(t), h(f_(s),f_(t)) denote sets of features for source, target, andinteractive features between source and target. Therefore the goal is toestimate the probability of similarity:p=g(f _(s) ,f _(t) ,h(f _(s) ,f _(t));β)g(.): [0,1]^(Q)→[0,1]

The log-likelihood function is defined as:

${\ell(\beta)} = {{\sum\limits_{q = 1}^{Q}{c_{q}\log{p_{q}(\beta)}}} + {\left( {1 - c_{q}} \right){\log\left( {1 - {p_{q}(\beta)}} \right)}}}$

Therefore, in the logistic regression model the unknown coefficients canbe estimated as follows:

${g\left( {x;\beta} \right)} = \frac{1}{1 + e^{- \beta^{T_{x}}}}$β^(*) = arg_(β)max  ℓ(β)

In accordance with an embodiment, the auto-map service can be triggeredby, for example, receiving a HTTP POST request from the system facadeservice. The system facade API passes the dataflow application, e.g.,pipelines, Lambda application JSON file from UI to the auto-map RESTAPI, and the parser module processes the application JSON file andextracts entity name and shape of dataset or entity including attributenames and data type.

In accordance with an embodiment, the auto-map service uses a search tofind quickly a potential candidate set for mapping. The candidate setneeds to be a highly relevant set, and therefore a special index andquery can be used to achieve this. This special index incorporates aspecial search field where all attributes of an entity are stored andtokenized with all N-gram combinations. At query time, the search querybuilder module leverages a fuzzy search feature based, for example, onLevenshtein distance, to construct a special query using both entityname and attribute names of the given entity and leverage the searchboost function to sort results by their relevance in sense of stringsimilarity.

In accordance with an embodiment, the recommendation engine shows anumber of relevant results to users, for example a selection of top Nresults in most cases.

In accordance with an embodiment, in order to achieve a high precision,a machine learning model compares pairs of source and targets and scoresimilarity of entities based on extracted features. The featureextraction includes metadata, data type and statistical profiles ofrandomly sampled data for each attributes.

Although the descriptions provided here, in accordance with anembodiment, generally describes the use of a logistic regression modelto learn auto-mapping examples taken from an Oracle BusinessIntelligence (OBI) lineage mapping data, other supervised machinelearning models can be used instead.

In accordance with an embodiment, the output of the logistic regressionmodel represents an overall confidence of how a candidate dataset orentity is similar to an input dataset or entity in a statistical sense.In order to find an exact mapping one or more other models can be usedto calculate similarity of source attribute with target attribute usingsimilar features.

Finally, in accordance with an embodiment, the recommendations arefiltered and sorted and sent back to the system facade and passed to theuser interface. The auto-map service dynamically suggestsrecommendations based on at what stage the user is during the dataflowapplication, e.g., pipeline or Lambda application design. The servicecan continuously provide recommendations and guide the user, based onthe user's previous activities. The auto-mapping can be performed ineither forward engineering or reverse engineering senses.

FIG. 31 illustrates an automated mapping of data types, in accordancewith an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 31 , in accordance with an embodiment, a systemfaçade 701 and auto-map API 702 allows for the receipt of a dataflowapplication, e.g., pipeline or Lambda application from the softwaredevelopment component, e.g., Lambda Studio. A parser 704 processes theapplication's JSON file, and extracts entity names and shapes, includingattribute names and data type.

In accordance with an embodiment, a search index 708, is used to supporta primary search 710, to find a potential candidate set of datasets orentities, for mapping. A search query builder module 706 constructs aquery using both entity name and attribute names of the given entity, todetermine a selection of datasets or entities 712.

In accordance with an embodiment, a machine learning (ML) model is usedto compare pairs of sources and targets, and to score similarity ofdatasets or entities, based on extracted features. The featureextraction 714 includes metadata, data type and statistical profiles ofrandomly sampled data for each attributes.

In accordance with an embodiment, a logistic regression model 716provides, as an output, an overall confidence of how a candidate entityis similar to an input entity. In order to find a more exact mapping, acolumn mapping model 718 is used to further evaluate similarity ofsource attribute with target attribute.

In accordance with an embodiment, the recommendations are then sorted asauto-mappings 720, for return to the software development component,e.g, Lambda Studio. The auto-map service dynamically suggestsrecommendations based on at which stage the user is, during the dataflowapplication, e.g., pipeline or Lambda application design. The servicecan continuously provide recommendations and guide the user, based onthe user's previous activities.

FIG. 32 illustrates an auto-map service for generation of mappings, inaccordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 32 , in accordance with an embodiment, anauto-map service can be provided for generation of mappings, includingwherein a UI query 728 is received and passed to a query understandingengine 729, and then to a query decomposition 730 component.

In accordance with an embodiment, a primary search 710 is performedusing a data HUB 722 to determine candidate datasets or entities 731,for use in subsequent metadata and stats profile processing 732.

In accordance with an embodiment, the result are passed to a get statsprofile 734 component and the data AI system 724 provide featureextraction 735. Results are used for synthesis 736, final confidencemerging and ranking 739 according to the models 723, and providing ofrecommendations and associated confidences 740.

Auto-Map Examples

FIG. 33 illustrates an example of mapping between a source schema andtarget schema, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 33 , the example 741 shows, in accordance with anembodiment, a simple auto-mapping example based on, for example, (a)hypernyms, (b) synonyms, (c) equality, (d) Soundex, and (e) fuzzymatching.

FIG. 34 illustrates another example of mapping between a source schemaand target schema, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 34 , an approach solely based on metadata willfail if this information is irrelevant. In accordance with anembodiment, FIG. 34 illustrates an example 742 wherein the source andtarget attribute names are completely uninformative. When there is alack of metadata features, the system can employ models that includestatistical profiling of features to achieve finding similar entities.

Auto-Map Process

FIG. 35 illustrates a process for providing automated mapping of datatypes, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 35 , at step 744, in accordance with anembodiment, an accessed data is processed, to perform a metadataanalysis of the accessed data.

At step 745, one or more samples of the accessed data are identified.

At step 746, a machine learning process is applied to determine acategory of data within the accessed data.

At step 748, a profile of the accessed data is generated, based on thedetermined category of data, for use in auto-mapping the accessed data.

Dynamic Recommendations and Simulation

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can include a softwaredevelopment component (referred to herein in some embodiments as LambdaStudio), and graphical user interface (referred to herein in someembodiments as pipeline editor, or Lambda Studio IDE), that provides avisual environment for use with the system, including providingreal-time recommendations for performing semantic actions on dataaccessed from an input HUB, based on an understanding of the meaning orsemantics associated with the data.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, the graphical userinterface can provide real-time recommendations for performingoperations (also referred to as semantic actions) on data accessed froman input HUB, including a partial data, shape or other characteristicsof that data. The semantic actions can be performed on the data based onthe meaning, or semantics associated with data. The meaning of the datacan be used to select semantic actions that can be performed on thedata.

In accordance with an embodiment, a semantic action may represent anoperator on one or more datasets, and can reference a base semanticaction or function declaratively defined in the system. One or moreprocessed datasets can be generated by performing a semantic action. Asemantic action can be defined by parameters that are associated withspecific functional or business types. They represent a specificupstream dataset to be processed. A graphical user interface can bemetadata-driven, such that the graphical user interface is generateddynamically to provide recommendations based on metadata identified inthe data.

FIG. 36 illustrates a system that displays one or more semantic actionsenabled for accessed data, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 36 , in accordance with an embodiment, using agraphical user interface 750 having a user input area 752 a query forsemantic actions enabled for the accessed data is sent to a knowledgesource of the system, wherein the query indicates the classification ofthe accessed data.

In accordance with an embodiment, a response to the query is receivedfrom the knowledge source, wherein the response indicates one or moresemantic actions enabled for the accessed data and identified based onthe classification of the data.

In accordance with an embodiment, selected ones of the semantic actionsenabled for the accessed data are displayed, for selection and use withthe accessed data, including automatically providing or updating a listof the selected ones of the semantic actions 756, or recommendations758, enabled for the accessed data, during the processing of theaccessed data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the recommendations can be provideddynamically rather than being pre-computed based on static data. Forexample, the system can provide recommendations in real-time based ondata accessed in real-time, taking into account information such as, forexample, a user profile or the user's experience level. Therecommendations provided by the system for real-time data may besalient, relevant, and precise for producing dataflow applications,e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications. The recommendations can beprovided based on user behavior with respect to data associated withparticular metadata. The system can recommend semantic actions oninformation.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, the system can ingestdata, transform, integrate and publish the data to an arbitrary system.The system can recommend that an entity be used to analyze some of itsnumerical measures in an interesting analytic manner; pivoting that dataon various dimensions, indicating what are the interesting dimensionseven, summarizing the data for those dimension hierarchies and enrichingthe data with more insight.

In accordance with an embodiment, the recommendations can be providedbased on analysis of data using techniques, such as, for example, ametadata analysis of the data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the metadata analysis can includedetermining a classification of the data, such as, for example, shapes,features, and structure of the data. The metadata analysis can determinethe types of the data (e.g., business types and functional types). Themetadata analysis can also indicate a columnar shape of the data. Inaccordance with an embodiment, the data can be compared to the metadatastructure (e.g., shapes and features) to determine a type of data andattributes associated with the data. The metadata structure can bedefined in a system HUB (e.g., a knowledge source) of the system.

In accordance with an embodiment, using the metadata analysis, thesystem can query a system HUB to identify semantic actions based on themetadata. Recommendations can be semantic actions determined based onanalysis of metadata of data accessed from an input HUB. Specifically,semantic actions can be mapped to metadata. For example, semanticactions can be mapped to metadata for which those actions are permittedand/or applicable. The semantic actions can be user defined, and/or canbe defined based on a structure of data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the semantic actions can be definedbased on conditions associated with metadata. The system HUB can bemodified such that semantic actions are modified, deleted, or augmented.

Examples of semantic actions may include, in accordance with anembodiment, building a cube, filtering data, grouping data, aggregatingdata, or other actions that can be performed on data. By definingsemantic actions based on metadata, no mapping or scheme may be neededto determine semantic actions permitted for data. Semantic actions canbe defined as new and different metadata structures are discovered. Assuch, the system can dynamically determine recommendations based onidentification of semantic actions using metadata analyzed for datareceived as input.

In accordance with an embodiment, semantic actions can be defined by athird party, such that the third party can supply data, such as, forexample, data defining one or more semantic actions associated withmetadata. The system can dynamically query the system HUB to determinethe semantic actions available for metadata. As such, the system HUB canbe modified, such that the system determines the semantic actionspermitted at the time based on such modifications. The system canperform operations (e.g., filter, detect, and register) to process dataobtained from a third party, where the data defines semantic actions;and can make semantic actions available based on the semantic actionsidentified by the processing.

FIG. 37 and FIG. 38 illustrate a graphical user interface that displaysone or more semantic actions enabled for accessed data, in accordancewith an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 37 , in accordance with an embodiment, a softwaredevelopment component (e.g., Lambda Studio), can provide a graphicaluser interface (e.g., a pipeline editor, or Lambda studio IDE) 750, thatcan display recommended semantic actions, for use in processing an inputdata, or simulating the processing of the input data, for projectiononto an output HUB.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, the interface in FIG. 37allows a user to display options 752 associated with a dataflowapplication, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application, including, for example,an input HUB definition 754.

In accordance with an embodiment, during the creation of a dataflowapplication, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application, or the simulation of adataflow application, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application, with an inputdata, one or more sematic actions 756, or other recommendations 758, canbe displayed on the graphical user interface, for review by the user.

In accordance with an embodiment, in a simulation mode, the softwaredevelopment component (e.g., Lambda Studio) provides asandbox-environment that allows the user to immediately see the resultsof performing various semantic actions on the output, includingautomatically updating a list of semantic actions appropriate to theaccessed data, during the processing of the accessed data.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 38 , in accordance with anembodiment, from a starting point of the user searching for someinformation, the system can recommend operations 760 on information, forexample that an entity be used to analyze some of its numerical measuresin an interesting analytic manner; pivoting that data on variousdimensions, indicating what are the interesting dimensions even,summarizing the data for those dimension hierarchies and also enrichingthe data with more insight.

In accordance with an embodiment, in the example illustrated, bothsources and dimensions have been recommended for an analyzable entity inthe system, making the task of building a multi-dimensional cube one ofalmost point and click.

Typically, such activities require a lot of experience and domainspecific knowledge. Using machine learning to analyze both the datacharacteristics and the user's behavioral patterns for commonintegration patterns, together with the combination of semantic searchand recommendations from machine learning, allows for an approach thatoffers state of the art tooling for application development for buildingbusiness focused applications.

FIG. 39 illustrates a process for displaying one or more semanticactions enabled for accessed data, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 39 , at step 772, in accordance with anembodiment, an accessed data is processed, to perform a metadataanalysis of the accessed data, wherein the metadata analysis includesdetermining a classification of the accessed data.

At step 774, a query for semantic actions enabled for the accessed datais sent to a knowledge source of the system, wherein the query indicatesthe classification of the accessed data.

At step 775, a response to the query is received from the knowledgesource, wherein the response indicates one or more semantic actionsenabled for the accessed data and identified based on the classificationof the data.

At step 776, at a graphical user interface, selected ones of thesemantic actions enabled for the accessed data are displayed, forselection and use with the accessed data, including automaticallyproviding or updating a list of the selected ones of the semanticactions enabled for the accessed data, during the processing of theaccessed data.

Functional Decomposition of Data Flows

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can provide a service torecommend actions and transformations, on an input data, based onpatterns identified from the functional decomposition of a data flow fora software application, including determining possible transformationsof the data flow in subsequent applications. Data flows can bedecomposed into a model describing transformations of data, predicates,and business rules applied to the data, and attributes used in the dataflows.

FIG. 40 illustrates support for evaluation of a pipeline, Lambdaapplication, into its constituent parts, to facilitate pattern detectionand inductive learning, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 40 , in accordance with an embodiment, afunctional decomposition logic 800 or software component, which can beprovided as software or program code that is executable by a computersystem or other processing device, and can be used to provide afunctional decomposition 802 and recommendations 804, for display 805(for example, within a pipeline editor, or Lambda Studio IDE). Forexample, the system can provide a service to recommended actions andtransformations on data based on patterns/templates identified fromfunctional decomposition of data flows for dataflow applications, e.g.,pipelines, Lambda applications, i.e., observe, through functionaldecomposition of data flows, patterns for determining possibletransformations of data flow in subsequent applications.

In accordance with an embodiment, the service can be implemented by aframework that can decompose, or break down, data flows into a modeldescribing transformations of data, predicates, and business rulesapplied to the data, and attributes used in the data flows.

Traditionally, a data flow for applications may represent a series oftransformations on data and the type of transformations applied to datais highly contextual. In most data integration frameworks, processlineage is usually limited or nonexistent in how data flows arepersisted, analyzed and generated. In accordance with an embodiment, thesystem enables deriving contextually relevant patterns from flows orgraphs based on semantically rich entity types and to further learn dataflow grammar and models and using it to generate complex data flowgraphs given similar contexts.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can generate one or moredata structures defining patterns and templates based on designspecification of data flows. Data flows can be decomposed into datastructures defining functional expressions to determine patterns andtemplates. The data flows can be used to predict and generate functionalexpressions for determining patterns for recommendations of datatransformations, wherein the recommendations are based on the modelsderived from inductive learning of decomposed data flows and inherentpatterns, and can be finely grained (for example, recommending a scalartransformation on a particular attribute or the use of one or moreattributes in a predicate for filter or join).

In accordance with an embodiment, dataflow applications, e.g.,pipelines, Lambda applications can enable users to generate complex datatransformations based on semantic actions on data. The system can storedata transformations as one or more data structures defining the flow ofdata for a pipeline, Lambda application.

In accordance with an embodiment, decomposing data flow for a dataflowapplication, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application, can be used todetermine pattern analysis of the data and to generate functionalexpressions. The decomposition can be performed for semantic actions aswell as transformations and predicates, or business rules. Each ofprevious applications semantic actions can be identified throughdecomposition. Using a process of induction, business logic can beextracted from a data flow including its context elements (businesstypes and functional types).

In accordance with an embodiment, a model can be generated for theprocess; and, based on induction, prescriptive data flow designrecommendations can be generated which are contextually rich. Therecommendations can be based on patterns inference from the model,wherein each of the recommendations may correspond to a semantic actionthat can be performed on data for an application.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can perform a process forinferring patterns for data transformation based on functionaldecomposition. The system can access a data flow for one or moredataflow applications, e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications. The dataflow can be processed to determine one or more functional expressions.The functional expressions can be generated based on actions,predicates, or business rules identified in the data flow. The actions,predicates, or business rules can be used to identify (e.g., infer) thepattern of transformation on the data flow. Inferring a pattern oftransformation may be a passive process.

In accordance with an embodiment, the pattern of transformation can bedetermined in a crowd sourcing manner based on passive analysis of dataflows for different applications. The pattern can be determined usingmachine learning (e.g., deep reinforcement learning).

In accordance with an embodiment, a pattern of transformation can beidentified for the functions expressions generated for a dataflowapplication, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application. One or more data flowscan be decomposed to infer patterns for data transformation.

In accordance with an embodiment, using the pattern, the system canrecommend one or more data transformations for a data flow of the newdataflow application, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application. In an exampleof a data flow of processing on data for a monetary exchange, the systemcan identify a pattern of transformations on the data. The system canalso recommend one or more transformations for a new data flow of anapplication, wherein the data flow involves data for a similar monetaryexchange. The transformation(s) can be performed in a similar manneraccording to the pattern such that the new data flow is modifiedaccording to the transformation(s) to produce a similar monetaryexchange.

FIG. 41 illustrates a means of identifying a pattern of transformationin a data flow, for one or more functional expressions generated foreach of one or more applications, in accordance with an embodiment.

As described previously, in accordance with an embodiment, pipelines,e.g., Lambda applications, allow users to define complex datatransformations based on semantic actions that correspond to operatorsin relational calculus. The data transformations are usually persistedas directed acyclic graphs or queries, or, in the case of DFML, asnested functions. Decomposing and serializing a dataflow application,e.g., pipeline, Lambda application, as a nested function enables patternanalysis of the data flow and induce a data flow model that can then beused to generate functional expressions abstracting complextransformations on datasets in similar contexts.

In accordance with an embodiment, the nested function decomposition isperformed not only at the level of semantic actions (row or datasetoperators), but also at the scalar transformations and predicatestructures, which allows deep lineage capability of a complex data flow.The recommendations based on the induced models can be finely grained(for example, recommending a scalar transformation on a particularattribute or the use of one or more attributes in a predicate for filteror join).

In accordance with an embodiment, the elements of the functionaldecomposition generally include that:

An application represents a top level data flow transformation.

An action represents an operator on one or more datasets (dataframes tobe specific).

Actions reference the base semantic action or function declarativelydefined in the system. Actions can have one or more action parameterseach of which can have specific role (in, out, in/out) and type, returnone or more processed datasets, and can be embedded or nested severallevels deep.

Action parameters are owned by actions and have specific functional orbusiness types, and represent a specific upstream dataset to beprocessed. Binding parameters represent datasets or entities in a HUBthat are used in the transformation. Value parameters representintermediate or transient data structures that are processed in thecontext of the current transformation

Scope resolvers allow the derivation of process lineage for a dataset oran element in the dataset used in the entire data flow.

FIG. 42 illustrates an object diagram for use in identifying a patternof transformation in a data flow, for one or more functional expressionsgenerated for each of one or more applications, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 42 , in accordance with an embodiment, afunctional decomposition logic can be used to decompose, or break down,the data flow for a dataflow application, e.g., pipeline, Lambdaapplication, into a model describing transformations of data,predicates, and business rules applied to the data, and attributes usedin the data flows into a selection of registries, including for examplea pattern, or a template 812 (if a template is associated with thepipeline, Lambda application), a service 814, a function 816, functionparameters 818, and function type 820.

In accordance with an embodiment, each of these functional component canbe further decomposed into, for example, tasks, 822, or actions 824,reflecting the dataflow application, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application.

In accordance with an embodiment, a scope resolver 826 can be used toresolve the reference to a particular attribute or embedded object,through its scope. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 42 , the scoperesolver resolves the reference to an attribute or embedded objectthrough its immediate scope. For example, a join function using theoutput of a filter and another table would have references to both asits scope resolver, and can be used in combination with an InScopeOfoperation to resolve leaf node to its root node path.

FIG. 43 illustrates a process of identifying a pattern of transformationin a data flow, for one or more functional expressions generated foreach of one or more applications, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 43 , in accordance with an embodiment, at step842, a data flow is accessed for each of one or more softwareapplications.

At step 844, the data flow for the one or more software applications isprocessed to generate one or more functional expressions representingthe data flow, wherein the one or more functional expressions aregenerated based on semantic actions and business rules identified in thedata flow.

At step 845, a pattern of transformation in the data flow is identified,for the one or more functional expressions generated for each of the oneor more software applications, wherein the semantic actions and businessrules are used to identify the pattern of transformation in the dataflow.

At step 847, using the pattern of transformation identified in the dataflow, a recommendation of one or more data transformations is providedfor a data flow of another software application.

Ontology Learning

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can perform an ontologyanalysis of a schema definition, to determine the types of data anddatasets or entities, associated with that schema; and generate, orupdate, a model from a reference schema that includes an ontologydefined based on relationships between entities and their attributes. Areference HUB including one or more schemas can be used to analyze dataflows, and further classify or make recommendations for, e.g.,transformations enrichments, filtering, or cross-entity data fusion ofan input data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can perform an ontologyanalysis of a schema definition to determine an ontology of types ofdata and entities in a reference schema. In other words, the system cangenerate a model from a schema that includes an ontology defined basedon relationships between entities and their attributes. The referenceschema can be a system-provided or default reference schema, oralternatively a user-supplied or third-party reference schema.

Although some data integration frameworks may reverse engineer metadatafrom known source system types, they do not provide an analysis of themetadata to build a functional type system that can be used for patterndefinitions and entity classifications. Harvesting metadata is alsolimited in scope and does not extend to profiling data for the extracteddatasets or entities. The functionality to allow the user to specify areference schema for ontology learning from which to build functionaltype system for use in complex process (business logic) and integrationpatterns in addition to entity classification (in similar topologicalspace) is currently unavailable.

In accordance with an embodiment, one or more schemas can be stored in areference HUB, which itself can be provided within or as part of thesystem HUB. As with the reference schema, a reference HUB can also be auser-supplied or third-party reference HUB, or in a multitenantenvironment, can be associated with a particular tenant, and accessedfor example through a dataflow API.

In accordance with an embodiment, the reference HUB can be used toanalyze data flows and to further classify or make recommendations for,e.g., transformations, enrichments, filtering, or cross-entity datafusion.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, the system can receiveinput defining a reference HUB as a schema for ontology analysis. Thereference HUB can be imported to obtain entity definitions (attributesdefinitions, data types, and relationships between datasets or entities,constraints, or business rules). Sample data (e.g., attribute vectorssuch as, for example, columnar data) in the reference HUB can beextracted for all datasets or entities, and profiled data, to deriveseveral metrics on the data.

In accordance with an embodiment, a type system can be instantiatedbased on the nomenclature of the reference schema. The system canperform an ontology analysis, to derive an ontology (e.g., a set ofrules) that describe types of data. The ontology analysis can determinedata rules that are defined terms of profiled data (e.g., attribute, orcomposite value) metrics and describe the nature of a business typeelement (e.g., UOM, ROI, or Currency Type) along with their dataprofile; relationship rules that define associations across datasets orentities, and attribute vectors (constraints or references imported fromthe reference schema); and complex rules that can be derived through acombination of data and relationship rules. A type system can then bedefined based on the rules derived through metadata harvesting and datasampling.

In accordance with an embodiment, patterns and templates can be utilizedfrom a system HUB, based on the type system instantiated using theontology analysis. The system can then perform data flow processingusing the type system.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, classification and typeannotation of datasets or entities can be identified by the type systemof the registered HUB. The type system can be used to define rules forfunctional and business types derived from the reference schema. Usingthe type system, actions, such as, for example, blending, enriching, andtransformation recommendations, can be performed on the entitiesidentified in data flows based on the type system.

FIG. 44 illustrates a system for generating functional type rules, inaccordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 44 , in accordance with an embodiment, a ruleinduction logic 850 or software component, which can be provided assoftware or program code that is executable by a computer system orother processing device, enables rules 851 to be associated with afunctional type system 852

FIG. 44 illustrates a system for generating functional type rules, inaccordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 45 , in accordance with an embodiment, a HUB 1can act as a reference ontology, for use in type-tagging, comparing,classifying, or otherwise evaluating a metadata schema or ontologyprovided by other (e.g., newly-registered) HUBs, e.g., HUB 2 and HUB 3,and creating appropriate rules, for use by the Data AI system.

FIG. 46 illustrates an object diagram for use in generating functionaltype rules, in accordance with an embodiment.

In accordance with an embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 46 , forexample, the rule induction logic enables rules to be associated with afunctional type system having a set of functional types 853 (forexample, HUBs, datasets or entities, and attributes), and stored inregistries for use in creating dataflow applications, e.g., pipelines,Lambda applications, including that each functional type 854 can beassociated with functional type rules 856, and rules 858. Each rule canbe associated with rule parameters 860.

In accordance with an embodiment, the first time a reference schema isprocessed, an ontology including a set of rules can be prepared that areappropriate to that schema.

In accordance with an embodiment, the next time a new HUB, or a newschema is evaluated, its datasets or entities can be compared with anexisting ontology and prepared rules, and used in the analysis of thenew HUB/schema and its entities, and the further learning of the system.

Although some metadata harvesting in data integration frameworks arelimited to reverse engineering entity definitions (attributes and theirdata types and in some cases relationships); in accordance with anembodiment, the approach provided by the system described herein differsin allowing a schema definition to be used as reference ontology fromwhich business and functional types can be derived, along with dataprofiling metrics for the datasets or entities, in the reference schema.This reference HUB can then be used to analyze business entities inother HUBs (data sources), to further classify or make recommendations(e.g., blending, or enriching).

In accordance with an embodiment, the system employs the following setof steps to ontology learning using a reference schema:

A user specifies the option to use a newly registered HUB as a referenceschema.

Entity definitions (e.g., attributes definitions, data types,relationships between entities, constraints or business rules areimported).

A sample data is extracted for all datasets or entities, and dataprofiled to derive several metrics on the data.

A type system is instantiated (functional and business types), based onthe nomenclature of the reference schema.

A set of rules that describe the business types are derived.

Data rules are defined in terms of profiled data metrics and describethe nature of a business type element (for example, UOM or ROI orCurrency Type can be defined as a business type element along with theirdata profile).

Relationship rules are generated that define associations acrosselements (constraints or references imported from the reference schema).

Complex rules are generated that can be derived through a combination ofdata and relationship rules

The type system (functional and business) is defined based on the rulesderived through metadata harvesting and data sampling.

Patterns or templates can then use the types instantiated based on thereference schema to define complex business logic.

A HUB registered with the system can then be analyzed in the context ofthe reference schema.

Classification and type annotation of datasets or entities, in the newlyregistered HUB can be performed, based on the rules for functional andbusiness types derived from the reference schema.

Blending, enriching, transformation recommendations can be performed onthe datasets or entities, based on the type annotation.

FIG. 47 illustrates a process for generating a functional type systembased on generated one or more rules, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 47 , in accordance with an embodiment, at step862, input is receive defining a reference HUB.

At step 863, the reference HUB is accessed to obtain one or more entitydefinitions associated with datasets or entities, provided by thereference HUB.

At step 864, a sample data is generated for the one or more datasets orentities, from the reference HUB.

At step 865, the sample data is profiled to determine one or moremetrics associated with the sample data.

At step 866, one or more rules are generated based on the entitydefinitions.

At step 867, a functional type system is generated based on thegenerated one or more rules.

At step 868, the functional type system, and profiles of the sampledata, are persisted for use in processing a data input.

Foreign Function Interface

In accordance with an embodiment, the system provides a programmaticinterface (referred to herein in some embodiments as a foreign functioninterface), by which a user or third-party can define a service,functional and business types, semantic actions, and patterns orpredefined complex data flows based on functional and business types, ina declarative manner, to extend the functionality of the system.

As described previously, current data integration systems may providelimited interfaces with no support for types and no well-definedinterfaces for object composition and pattern definition. Because ofsuch shortcomings, complex functionality like cross servicerecommendations or unified application design platform to invokesemantic actions across services extending the framework is currentlynot available.

In accordance with an embodiment, the foreign function interface enablesa user to provide definitions or other information (e.g., from acustomer other third-party) in a declarative manner, to extend thefunctionality of the system.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system is metadata-driven, suchthat definitions received through the foreign function interface can beprocessed to determine a metadata, determine a classification of themetadata, such as, for example, data types (e.g., functional andbusiness types), and compare the data types (both functional andbusiness) to existing metadata to determine whether there is a typematch.

In accordance with an embodiment, the metadata received through theforeign function interface can be stored in a system HUB to be accessedby the system for processing a data flow. For example, the metadata canbe accessed to determine semantic actions based on a type of data setsreceived as an input. The system can determine semantic actionspermitted for the types of data provided through the interface.

In accordance with an embodiment, by providing a common declarativeinterface, the system can enable users to map service native types andactions to platform native types and actions. This allows a unifiedapplication design experience through type and pattern discovery. Italso facilitates a purely declarative data flow definition and designinvolving components of various services extending the platform andgeneration of native code for the respective semantic actions.

In accordance with an embodiment, metadata received through the foreignfunction interface can be processed in an automated fashion so that theobjects or artifacts described therein (e.g., data types or semanticactions) can be used in operation of data flows processed by the system.The metadata information received from the one or more third-partysystems may also be used to define a service, indicate one or morefunctional and business types, indicate one or more semantic actions, orindicate one or more patterns/templates.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, a classification of theaccessed data can be determined, such as functional and business typesof the data. The classification can be identified based on theinformation about the data received with the information. By receivingdata from one or more third party systems, the functionality of thesystem can be extended to perform data integration on a data flow basedon the information (e.g., a service, a semantic action, or a pattern)received from the third party.

In accordance with an embodiment, metadata in a system HUB can beupdated to include the information identified about the data. Forexample, services and patterns/templates can be updated to be performedbased on information (e.g., a semantic action) identified in themetadata received through the foreign function interface. Thus, thesystem can be augmented with functionality through the foreign functioninterface without interrupting processing of a data flow.

In accordance with an embodiment, subsequent data flows can be processedusing the metadata in the system HUB after it is updated. Metadataanalysis can be performed on a data flow of a dataflow application,e.g., pipeline, Lambda application. The system HUB can then be used todetermine a recommendation of a transformation, taking into account thedefinitions provided via foreign function interface. The transformationcan be determined based on a pattern/template, which is used to definesemantic actions to perform for services, wherein the semantic actionscan similarly take into account the definitions provided via foreignfunction interface.

FIG. 48 illustrates a system for identifying a pattern for use inproviding a recommendation for a data flow, based on informationprovided via a foreign function interface, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 48 , in accordance with an embodiment,definitions received via foreign function interface 900 can be used toupdate one or more of a service registry 902, functional and businesstype registry 904, or patterns/templates 906, within the system HUB.

In accordance with an embodiment, the updated information can be used bythe data AI subsystem, including a rules engine 908, to determine, forexample, type annotated HUBs, datasets or entities, or attributes 910 inthe system HUB, and provide those datasets or entities, to arecommendation engine 912, for use in providing recommendations for adataflow application, e.g., pipeline, Lambda application, via softwaredevelopment component (e.g., Lambda Studio).

FIG. 49 further illustrates identifying a pattern for use in providing arecommendation for a data flow, based on information provided via aforeign function interface, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 49 , in accordance with an embodiment, athird-party metadata 920 can be received at the foreign functioninterface.

FIG. 50 further illustrates identifying a pattern for use in providing arecommendation for a data flow, based on information provided via aforeign function interface, in accordance with an embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 50 , in accordance with an embodiment, thethird-party metadata received at the foreign function interface can beused to extend the functionality of the system.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system enables allows frameworkextensibility through well-defined interfaces that allow registration ofservices, types native to the services, semantic actions implemented bythe services along with their typed parameters, patterns or templatesthat abstract predefined algorithms available as part of the serviceamong other things.

In accordance with an embodiment, by providing a common declarativeprogramming paradigm, the pluggable service architecture allows themapping of service native types and actions to platform native types andactions. This allows a unified application design experience throughtype and pattern discovery. It also facilitates a purely declarativedata flow definition and design involving components of various servicesextending the platform and generation of native code for the respectivesemantic actions.

In accordance with an embodiment, the pluggable service architecturealso defines a common interface for compilation, generation, deploymentand runtime execution framework (Unified Application Design Service) forthe plugins. The recommendation engine can machine learn and reason oversemantic actions and patterns of all plugged in services and can makecross service semantic action recommendations for a distributed complexdata flow design and development.

FIG. 51 illustrates a process for identifying a pattern for use inproviding a recommendation for a data flow, based on informationprovided via a foreign function interface, in accordance with anembodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 51 , in accordance with an embodiment, at step932, one or more definitions of a metadata for use in processing a dataare receive, via a foreign function interface.

At step 934, the metadata received via foreign function interface isprocessed, to identify information about the received metadata,including one or more of a classification, semantic action, templatedefining a pattern, or service defined by the received metadata.

At step 936, the metadata received via foreign function interface isstored in a system HUB, wherein the system HUB is updated to include theinformation about the received metadata and to extend functionalcapabilities of the system including its supported types, semanticactions, templates, and services.

At step 938, a pattern for providing a recommendation for a data flow isidentified, based on the information updated in the system HUB viaforeign function interface.

Policy Based Lifecycle Management

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can provide data governancefunctionality such as, for example, provenance (where a particular datacame from), lineage (how the data was acquired/processed), security (whowas responsible for the data), classification (what is the data about),impact (how impactful is the data to a business), retention (how longshould the data live), and validity (whether the data should beexcluded/included for analysis/processing), for each slice of datapertinent to a particular snapshot in time; which can then be used inmaking lifecycle decisions and data flow recommendations.

Current approaches to managing data lifecycle does not involve trackingdata evolution (changes in data profile or drift) or governance relatedfunctionality based on changes in data characteristics across temporalpartitions. System observed or derived characteristics of data(classification, frequency of change, type of change, or use inprocesses) are not used to make lifecycle decisions or recommendations(retention, security, validity, acquisition intervals) on the data.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can provide a graphicaluser interface that can indicate a lifecycle of data flow based onlineage tracking. The lifecycle can show where the data has beenprocessed and if any errors have occurred during its processing; and canbe shown as a timeline view of data (e.g., number of datasets, volume ofdatasets, and use of datasets). The interface can provide a point intime snapshot of data and can provide visual indicators for data as itis processed. As such, the interface can enable a complete audit ofdata, or a system snapshot of data based on the lifecycle (e.g.,performance metrics, or resource usage).

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can determine a lifecycleof data based on sample data (periodically sampled from ingested data)and data acquired for processing by user defined applications. Someaspects of the data lifecycle management is similar across the categoryof ingested data namely streaming data and batch data (reference andincremental). For incremental data, the system can use scheduled, logcollection, and event-driven methods to acquire temporal slices of dataand manage allocation of slices across application instances coveringthe following functionality.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can reconstruct data incase of loss using lineage across tiers from metadata managed in asystem HUB.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, incremental dataattribute columns or user configured settings can be identified toacquire incremental data and maintaining high and low watermarks acrossingesting data. Query or API and corresponding parameters (timestamp orId columns) can be associated with data that is ingested.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can maintain lineageinformation across tiers, such as, for example, query or log metadata inthe edge layer, topic/partition offsets for each ingest in the scalableI/O layer, slices (file partitions) in the data lake, reference toprocess lineage (specific execution instance of the applicationproducing the data and parameters associated with it) for subsequentdownstream processed dataset using this data, topic/partition offset forthe dataset “marked” to be published to a target endpoint and itscorresponding data slice in the data lake, and publish job executioninstance and the offsets in the partitions that is processed andpublished to the target endpoint.

In accordance with an embodiment, in the case of failure of a layer(e.g., edge, scalable I/O, data lake, or publish), data can bereconstructed from the upstream layer or acquired from the source.

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can perform other lifecyclemanagement functions.

For example, in accordance with an embodiment, security is enforced andaudited at each of these layers for data slices. Data slices can beexcluded or included (if already excluded) from being processed oraccessed. This allows excluding spurious or corrupt data slices frombeing processed. A retention policy can be enforced on slices of datathrough sliding windows. An impact is analyzed for slices of data (forexample, the ability to tag slices for a given window, as beingimpactful in the context of a data mart built for quarterly reporting).

In accordance with an embodiment, data is classified by tagging thefunctional or business types defined in the system (for example, tagginga dataset with a functional type (as a cube or dimensional orhierarchical data) along with the business type(s) (e.g., orders,customers, product, or time).

In accordance with an embodiment, the system can perform a method thatincludes accessing data from one or more HUBs. The data can be sampled,and the system determine temporal slices of the data and managing theslices, including accessing a system HUB of the system, to obtainmetadata about the sampled data. The sampled data can be managed forlineage tracking across one or more tiers in the system.

In accordance with an embodiment, incremental data and parameters aboutthe sample data can be managed for the data that is ingested. The datacan be classified by tagging a type of data associated with the sampledata.

FIG. 52 illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data, forlineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment.

For example, as illustrated in FIG. 52 , in accordance with anembodiment, the system can be used to receive a data from a HUB 952, inthis example, an Oracle database, and a HUB 954, in this example an S3or other environment. Data received from input HUBs, at the edge layer,is provided to the scalable I/O layer, as one or more topics, for use bydataflow applications, e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications (whereineach of the topics can be provided as distributed partitions).

In accordance with an embodiment, the ingested data, typicallyrepresented by an offset into a partition, can be normalized 964, by thecompute layer, and written to the data lake as one or more temporalslices which span the tiers of the system.

In accordance with an embodiment, the data can then be used bydownstream dataflow applications, e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications966, 968, and ultimately published 970, to one or more additional topics960, 962, and thereafter to a target endpoint (e.g., a table), at one ormore output HUBs, such as in this example, a DBCS environment.

As illustrated in FIG. 52 , in accordance with an embodiment, at a firsttime, the data reconstruction and lineage tracking information caninclude information such as, for example, the provenance (Hub 1, S3),lineage (Source Entity in Hub 1), security (Connection Credential used),or other information regarding the ingest of data.

FIG. 53 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 53 , at a subsequent time the datareconstruction and lineage tracking information can be updated toinclude information such as, for example, an updated provenance (→T1),lineage (→T1 (Ingest Process)), or other information.

FIG. 54 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 54 , at a subsequent time the datareconstruction and lineage tracking information can be further updatedto include information such as, for example, an updated provenance(→E1), lineage (→E1 (Normalize)), or other information.

In accordance with an embodiment, temporal slices 972, for use by one ormore dataflow applications, e.g., pipelines, Lambda applications, can becreated, spanning the tiers of the system. In the event of a failure,for example a failure in writing to the data lake, the system candetermine one or more unprocessed slices of data, and complete theprocessing of that slice of data, either in its totality, orincrementally.

FIG. 55 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 55 , at a subsequent time the datareconstruction and lineage tracking information can be further updated,and additional temporal slices created, to include information such as,for example, an updated lineage (→E11 (App1)), security (Role ExecutingApp 1), or other information.

FIG. 56 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 56 , at a subsequent time the datareconstruction and lineage tracking information can be further updated,and additional temporal slices created, to include information such as,for example, an updated lineage (→E12 (App2)), security (Role ExecutingApp 2), or other information.

FIG. 57 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 57 , at a subsequent time the datareconstruction and lineage tracking information can be further updated,and additional temporal slices created, to include information such as,for example, an updated lineage (→T2 (Publish)), security (RoleExecuting Publish to I/O Layer), or other information.

FIG. 58 further illustrates managing a sampled data or accessed data,for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance with anembodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 58 , at a subsequent time the datareconstruction and lineage tracking information can be further updated,to reflect the output of the data to a target endpoint 976.

Data Lifecycle Management

In accordance with an embodiment, data lifecycle management based on thelineage tracking described above addresses several functional areas someof which can be configured by the user (access control, retention,validity), some derived (provenance, lineage) and others using machinelearning algorithms (classification, impact). For example, the datamanagement applies to both sample data (periodically sampled fromingested data) and data acquired for processing by user definedapplications. Some aspects of the data lifecycle management is similaracross the category of ingested data namely streaming data and batchdata (reference and incremental). For incremental data, DFML usesscheduled, log collection, and event-driven methods to acquire temporalslices of data and manage allocation of slices across applicationinstances covering the following functionality:

Reconstruction of data in case of loss using lineage across tiers frommetadata managed in the system HUB.

Identifying of incremental data attribute columns or user configuredsettings to acquire incremental data and maintaining high and lowwatermarks across ingest.

Associating of query or API and corresponding parameters (timestamp orId columns) for each ingest

Maintaining a lineage information across tiers. Query or Log metadata inthe edge layer. Topic/Partition offsets for each ingest in the scalableI/O layer. Slices (file partitions) in the data lake. Reference toprocess lineage (specific execution instance of the applicationproducing the data and parameters associated with it) for all subsequentdownstream processed dataset using this data. Topic/Partition offset forthe dataset “marked” to be published to a target endpoint and itscorresponding data slice in the data lake. Publish job executioninstance and the offsets in the partitions that is processed andpublished to the target endpoint.

In the case of failure of a layer, data can be reconstructed from theupstream layer or acquired from the source. Security is enforced andaudited at each of these layers for data slices. Data slices can beexcluded or included (if already excluded) from being processed oraccessed. This allows excluding spurious or corrupt data slices frombeing processed. Retention policy can be enforced on slices of datathrough sliding windows. Impact is analyzed for slices of data (forexample, the ability to tag slices for a given window, as beingimpactful in the context of a data mart built for quarterly reporting).

Classification of the data by tagging the functional or business typesdefined in the system (for example, tagging a dataset with a functionaltype (as a cube or dimensional or hierarchical data) along with thebusiness type(s) (e.g., orders, customers, product, or time).

FIG. 59 illustrates a process for managing a sampled data or accesseddata, for lineage tracking across one or more tiers, in accordance withan embodiment.

As illustrated in FIG. 59 , in accordance with an embodiment, at step982, data is accessed from one or more HUBs.

At step 983, the accessed data is sampled.

At step 984, temporal slices are identified for sampled data or accesseddata.

At step 985, a system HUB is accessed to obtain metadata about thesampled data or accessed data represented by the temporal slices.

At step 986, classification information is determined about the sampleddata or accessed data represented by the temporal slices.

At step 987, the sampled data or accessed data represented by thetemporal slices is managed, for lineage tracking across one or moretiers in the system.

Embodiments of the present invention can be implemented using one ormore conventional general purpose or specialized digital computer,computing device, machine, or microprocessor, including one or moreprocessors, memory and/or computer readable storage media programmedaccording to the teachings of the present disclosure. Appropriatesoftware coding can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based onthe teachings of the present disclosure, as will be apparent to thoseskilled in the software art.

In some embodiments, the present invention includes a computer programproduct which is a non-transitory computer readable storage medium(media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be used toprogram a computer to perform any of the processes of the presentinvention. Examples of storage mediums can include, but are not limitedto, floppy disks, optical discs, DVD, CD-ROMs, microdrive, andmagneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, DRAMs, VRAMs, flashmemory devices, magnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (includingmolecular memory ICs), or other types of storage media or devicessuitable for non-transitory storage of instructions and/or data.

The foregoing description of the present invention has been provided forthe purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed.Many modifications and variations will be apparent to the practitionerskilled in the art.

For example while several of the embodiments described above illustratethe use of products such as, for example, Wolfram, Yago, Chronos, andSpark, to perform various computations, and data sources such as, forexample, BDP, SFDC and S3, to act as sources or targets of data, theembodiments described herein can also be used with other types ofproducts and data sources that provide similar types of functionalities.

Additionally, while several of the embodiments described aboveillustrate components, layers, objects, logic, or other or features ofthe various embodiments, such features can be provided as software orprogram code that is executable by a computer system or other processingdevice.

The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and its practical application, therebyenabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments and with various modifications that are suited tothe particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of theinvention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for use with a data integration or othercomputing environment comprising: providing, at a computer including aprocessor, a design-time system for creating software applications,including: a knowledge source that stores metadata associated withprocessing data flows of software applications, including functionaldata types; and a graphical user interface for displaying data flowsassociated with the software applications, including a specification ofinput and output datasets having attributes associated therewith;wherein each data flow includes a specification of one or more datasources and data targets that operate as hubs and comprise datasetshaving attributes associated therewith, wherein a data flow isassociated with actions that operate on one or more input datasets totransform and output data to one or more output datasets, and wherein adataflow software application operates to receive input data from asource of data, and publish output data to one or more destinations,according to the data flow associated with the software application;identifying, by reference to the knowledge source and metadata therein,for a software application associated with a particular input datasetand a particular data flow, a pattern of transformation associated withthe particular input data flow; and providing, for use within thedesign-time system, subsequent to determining the pattern oftransformation associated with the particular input data flow, arecommendation of one or more data transformations for incorporationwithin a modified data flow, including determining and displaying withinthe graphical user interface, one or more semantic actions enabled forthe particular input dataset and an output dataset, during theprocessing of the particular input data flow.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the particular input dataset is provided and accessed at aninput hub, and wherein the particular dataflow operates to transformdata accessed at the input hub for communication to or storage at theoutput dataset at an output hub.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein therecommendation of one or more data transformations for incorporationwithin the modified data flow, including determining and displayingwithin the graphical user interface the one or more semantic actionsenabled for the particular input dataset and the output dataset, isperformed dynamically when accessing the data at the input hub.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the method is performed in a cloud orcloud-based computing environment.
 5. A system for providingrecommendations of actions and transformations on an input data for usewith a data integration or other computing environment, comprising: acomputer including a processor, and a design-time system for creatingsoftware applications, including: a knowledge source that storesmetadata associated with processing data flows of software applications,including functional data types; and a graphical user interface fordisplaying data flows associated with the software applications,including a specification of input and output datasets having attributesassociated therewith; wherein each data flow includes a specification ofone or more data sources and data targets that operate as hubs andcomprise datasets having attributes associated therewith, wherein a dataflow is associated with actions that operate on one or more inputdatasets to transform and output data to one or more output datasets,and wherein a dataflow software application operates to receive inputdata from a source of data, and publish output data to one or moredestinations, according to the data flow associated with the softwareapplication; wherein the system identifies, by reference to theknowledge source and metadata therein, for a software applicationassociated with a particular input dataset and a particular data flow, apattern of transformation associated with the particular input dataflow; and wherein the system determines and displays, subsequent todetermining the pattern of transformation associated with the particularinput data flow, a recommendation of one or more data transformationsfor incorporation within a modified data flow, including determining anddisplaying within the graphical user interface, one or more semanticactions enabled for the particular input dataset and an output dataset,during the processing of the particular input data flow.
 6. The systemof claim 5, wherein the particular input dataset is provided andaccessed at an input hub, and wherein the particular dataflow operatesto transform data accessed at the input hub for communication to orstorage at the output dataset at an output hub.
 7. The system of claim6, wherein the recommendation of one or more data transformations forincorporation within the modified data flow, including determining anddisplaying within the graphical user interface the one or more semanticactions enabled for the particular input dataset and the output dataset,is performed dynamically when accessing the data at the input hub. 8.The system of claim 5, wherein the system is provided in a cloud orcloud-based computing environment.
 9. A non-transitory computer readablestorage medium, including instructions stored thereon which when readand executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers toperform a method comprising: providing, at a computer including aprocessor, a design-time system for creating software applications,including: a knowledge source that stores metadata associated withprocessing data flows of software applications, including functionaldata types; and a graphical user interface for displaying data flowsassociated with the software applications, including a specification ofinput and output datasets having attributes associated therewith;wherein each data flow includes a specification of one or more datasources and data targets that operate as hubs and comprise datasetshaving attributes associated therewith, wherein a data flow isassociated with actions that operate on one or more input datasets totransform and output data to one or more output datasets, and wherein adataflow software application operates to receive input data from asource of data, and publish output data to one or more destinations,according to the data flow associated with the software application;identifying, by reference to the knowledge source and metadata therein,for a software application associated with a particular input datasetand a particular data flow, a pattern of transformation associated withthe particular input data flow; and providing, for use within thedesign-time system, subsequent to determining the pattern oftransformation associated with the particular input data flow, arecommendation of one or more data transformations for incorporationwithin a modified data flow, including determining and displaying withinthe graphical user interface, one or more semantic actions enabled forthe particular input dataset and an output dataset, during theprocessing of the particular input data flow.
 10. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the particularinput dataset is provided and accessed at an input hub, and wherein theparticular dataflow operates to transform data accessed at the input hubfor communication to or storage at the output dataset at an output hub.11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10,wherein the recommendation of one or more data transformations forincorporation within the modified data flow, including determining anddisplaying within the graphical user interface the one or more semanticactions enabled for the particular input dataset and the output dataset,is performed dynamically when accessing the data at the input hub. 12.The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, whereinthe method is performed in a cloud or cloud-based computing environment.